#why do you have to constantly be there offering me constant surface level entertainment?

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

i think i need to start sleeping with my phone across the room because i keep waking up way earlier than i need to and being like ‘ooh, better check the old interwebs!’ for no reason whatsoever

instead of literally sleeping!

WHY

[aurora-nova-fic]

Archimedes Snippets, Part 2

A couple more ideas for Garak as a Starfleet spouse, following All Our Tomorrows. Because the muse doesn’t want to work on a complete story so much as little scenes here and there in various follow-up works.

As before, these are unpolished (you can tell, because the tenses switch from one snippet to the next). I’m not really doing anything with these, just getting the ideas down so I can stop writing them in my head.

The Bashir & Garak show moves. The crew of the Archimedes is intrigued.

The Archimedes is twenty hours into its two-year mission when Bashir and Garak first argue in public.

This doesn’t escape anyone’s notice. Starfleet gossips. Not everyone, of course; the exact amount of gossip per person varies considerably. Any ship or station with a large percentage of Vulcans can be expected to show a corresponding drop in this behavior (sociologists have done studies, inherent difficulties in studying the subject notwithstanding). On the whole, though, it’s a popular pastime, especially when things are a bit dull at the moment or when a new crew comes together.

The USS Archimedes is fresh from Utopia Planetia with a new crew still getting to know each other, and it doesn’t surprise anyone when the first focal point of gossip is Dr. Julian Bashir.

For one thing, their CMO comes to the Archimedes from Deep Space Nine, where he was indisputably a hero of the Dominion War. His discovery of the cure for the changeling disease helped end the war, though for some reason that’s the only medical topic about which he doesn’t like to speak. He was there from the beginning of the quadrant’s conflict with the Founders, survived a Dominion internment camp, and developed an antigen to prevent the spread of a Dominion-bioengineered disease.

He’s also the first Augment allowed to serve openly in Starfleet, which is still controversial in some circles. The idea is that he’s not Khan, but some people are afraid he’s the tip of a dangerous iceberg. Nobody on the Archimedes knows Bashir’s personal feelings on the subject of genetic engineering, because the only people brave enough to ask, this early in the voyage, are also wise enough to know it’s not their business.

What really secures Bashir’s place as the grapevine’s favorite subject is his marriage. He arrives on the Archimedes newly married, which would’ve been unremarkable if his husband hadn’t been a Cardassian. A Cardassian who worked with the Federation during the war but may have been an Obsidian Order agent before that. Nobody on the ship is entirely sure, nor do they know exactly what said order actually did, but they assume it was something like the Tal Shiar and don’t like the idea one bit.

So it’s natural that everyone’s watching them. And what the crew sees confuses them at first.

Not a full Earth day after leaving Deep Space Nine, Bashir takes a late lunch and meets his husband in the mess hall. A handful of alpha shift crewmembers are around, and some of the beta shift getting an early breakfast, so there a good dozen witnesses to see both of them getting worked up. They speak quietly, but have intent facial expressions and both gesture with abandon.

“Didn’t they just get married?” asks Taiya, a beta shift engineer.

“I heard they practically came aboard from their honeymoon,” replies MacPherson, who then has to explain the concept to Taiya and thus learns Andorians have no equivalent.

“Short honeymoon phase,” adds Kowalczyk.

To the trio’s delight, Bashir and Garak have gotten so into their argument they raise their voices. “… absolute caricature of a villain is insulting to the reader.”

Bashir’s eyebrows fly up. “Really? That’s your next complaint?”

“Oh, please. Don’t tell me anyone goes around proclaiming, ‘Woe me, I’m so hideous to look at, I must therefore kill my brother and nephews.’ As motivations go, it lacks any semblance of credence.”

Taiya’s antennae twitch in confusion.

“You’re deliberately ignoring his motivation,” insists Bashir. The audience doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. “Gloucester claims to have been ‘cheated of feature by dissembling nature,’ so wronged that even dogs bark when he walks by.”

“From my understanding, Terran dogs bark all the time. It’s hardly good reason to kill your own brother.”

“He feels everyone hates him because of his physical appearance. ‘And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, to entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain.’ If he’d been shown kindness and love, he wouldn’t have been so angry. His life could’ve been entirely different!”

“You cannot possibly intend to read this as advocating the healing power of love.”

“No, because we don’t see anyone show Gloucester love, but think of the possibility. His life could’ve been entirely different if…”

“…he lived in a time when his deformities could be easily treated?”

“…people weren’t so shallow.”

“That is a theory not remotely supported by the rest of the text.”

“Shakespeare,” says MacPherson. “I think that’s Richard III.” When the others give him a questioning look, he shrugs. “My mother does community theater, so I spent a lot of time at rehearsals as a kid. You pick these things up.”

Bashir’s combadge beeps. “We’ll have to continue this discussion later,” he says. He and Garak briefly press their palms together, and then the doctor heads out of the mess hall.

Garak looks towards the observing trio, smiles knowingly, and picks up a padd.

This becomes a pattern. Bashir and his husband (no one even knows if the man has a first name) don’t act like newlyweds in love. They argue. Constantly. In fact they argue more than Vord can believe, and she’s a Tellarite. A Tellarite who joined Starfleet to escape the constant verbal sparring of Tellar, if it matters, but even on her homeworld, marriage is supposed to be a refuge from conflict.

They meet for lunch when Bashir’s schedule permits. The crew begins to consider this a source of entertainment, even when they don’t have any knowledge of the books under discussion. It’s usually literature at lunch. Human and Cardassian, mostly, but they sometimes add in works from other societies with no rhyme or reason anyone else can figure. Taiya says they’re both wrong about a seminal Andorian novel, according to a Written Arts teacher she had at age sixteen.

They’re obviously fast readers, given that they discuss a new book every other day, every third at the outside. Either that, or, as Kowalczyk says, they have a lot less sex than your average newlyweds.

Some ten days into the mission, Bashir calls a Cardassian book derivative and Garak reaches new levels of primly outraged.

“Derivative! Just because your authors have no respect for tradition doesn’t mean the rest of the galaxy is so enamored with the new.” He’s clearly gearing up for a long diatribe. Some of the crew pause their own lunch to watch the spectacle when Bashir’s combage chirps, and he gets up with clear regret.

That’s when people start to realize the CMO and his husband love debating. This is a honeymoon phase, weirdly enough. The pair is spotted coming out of Holodeck 1 disagreeing on the program they’d just run.

“You’re not supposed to suspect Watson.”

“I don’t see why not,” replies Garak. “If he’s constructing the narrative, he could well be the murderer.”

It appears there’s nothing they won’t argue. This doesn’t stop them from looking like they want to jump each other, though they are actually very decorous in public. No one has ever seen them do more than press their hands together.

People wonder what happens when they’re actually fighting. It turns out, silence. One day, a month into the mission, they eat quietly. It’s unnerving. They must make up overnight, though, because the following day they’re at it again, hashing out opposing views on a Cardassian poet.

Kotra references come in handy

“Archimedes to Bashir,” said Lt. (j.g) Connelly, Operations Officer.

It was a long moment before the CMO responded, and if he didn’t have a good reason, Andrea was going to have a chat with him about setting alarms for check-ins.

“Bashir here.”

“You’re overdue for check-in, Doctor,” said Andrea.

“My apologies, Captain. The aid evaluation is very complex.”

That was what alarms were for, Andrea thought. “Anything to report?”

“It’s a delicate matter. I should have a better idea of what’s needed shortly.”

They’d responded to a request for help from a small Klingon colony in need of medical assistance. Andrea hadn’t even known there was a Klingon colony in the Gamma Quadrant, but the Empire wasn’t obligated to disclose every settlement to the Federation, and were within their agreed-upon rights here. The Archimedes therefore dispatched an away team to see what could be done about their medical problem. Everyone knew Klingon medicine was a joke.

“Keep me informed,” said Andrea.

“Yes, ma’am.” A pause, and then, “May I speak with Garak for my spousal check-in, please?”

Starfleet did not offer spousal check-ins. Andrea started to think Bashir hadn’t forgotten anything, and there was a problem on the surface. “Of course,” she said. “One moment.”

At her nod, Connelly opened a channel to Bashir and Garak’s quarters. “Garak,” said Andrea. “Dr. Bashir commed for his spousal check-in.”

“Excellent.” Garak didn’t sound surprised in the least. He was a very good actor, Andrea decided – or she hoped that was the case here. “Are you there, Julian?”

“Yes. You’d like the temperature down here.”

“But not the menu, I’m sure.”

“No,” agreed Bashir, sounding amused. “I decided my next kotra move on the ride. It’ll give you something to think about, since I might be down here a while.”

“What is it?”

“Left flank advance center right.”

“An interesting choice,” said Garak.

“You always tell me kotra favors the bold. I look forward to your response.”

“You’ve given me few choices, my dear.”

“I know. Bashir out.”

A very puzzled Connelly reported, “Comm line closed.”

“What was that, Garak?” asked Andrea.

“A request for immediate transport.”

“If you’re wrong, we could start a diplomatic incident with offended Klingons.”

“I’m not wrong, Captain. Dr. Bashir invented a procedure to speak to me, did he not? Furthermore, we are not currently playing kotra, but the move he indicated is a trap he fell into the night before last.”

“A trap,” repeated Andrea. “I see. Lieutenant, beam up the away team.”

“Initiating transport,” said Connelly. “I have them. Transporter room two.”

Andrea tapped her combadge. “Scholz to Bashir. What the hell is going on?”

“It was a trap, Captain. They took our combadges and had a mek’leth to Tersan’s throat, so I had to get creative to avoid suspicion.”

“Is everyone alright?”

“Nothing worse than bruises. Something on this planet is unbalancing the Klingons’ mental state. The worst cases exhibit paranoia, and they decided the away team is part of a Federation plot to keep the Empire out of the Gamma Quadrant.”

“I want to see the entire away team in my ready room.”

“On our way.”

“And Doctor? Good thinking.”

[onewhoturns]

pt 1 - A Request

Okay guys, here’s part one of this RP with @kaldwinqueen. It’s almost 90 pages now, and still going, and I’m enjoying it immensely so I figured I’d share. You can also find it over on AO3 if you want to leave some love. I wrote Emily, @kaldwinqueen wrote the Outsider. [If you’re having formatting issues, click through to keep reading and it should fix.]

There was something heavy in the air tonight and it wasn't just the daunting knowledge of his impending demise weighing on his shoulders. Rarely did The Outsider consider what the world around him felt like. He did not think to feel, only perceive. He did not think to see, for he already understood. Even if he thought to see, he would view through muddied waters, cracked glass, fragments of his humanity. But the idea of the end put a new perspective on things.

Emily's study was different. The coup had changed it. Not that it wasn't clean and tidy, but the coup had changed the whole of Dunwall Tower. Something was different, even if everything had been arranged to how it had been before. The presence of witchcraft lingered and the Void scratched at the surface here, where it had been prominent only months before. It was like a wound in the fabric of reality that was only just now healing, sewing sinews of what once was back together to create a patchy tapestry that he knew he wouldn't be alive to witness in all its tattered glory.

He dragged his finger along one of the two glasses he'd brought out from beneath the desk, shimmering and intricate. It was a brandy he'd chosen. Not that he could really taste the stuff. A Tyvian vintage. He knew Emily's schedule like the back of his hand. And it was right around this time that she'd sit down at her desk and grumble to herself over piles of paperwork. But he hoped she could entertain him for just one more night.

It was the same every day. Constantly papers, and ring kisses, and being told how not to speak to people and how not to offend anyone and - oh don’t even mention all the bloody signatures. Primarily construction, rebuilding all that the coup had destroyed, but there were also budgets and schedules and approvals of delegations to the other Isles…

Emily straightened her back, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Calm. The day was nearly over. Now she was free of the constant buzz of surrounding advisors and attendants and... She breathed out. Free of the crowds. On her own. Just another night of the joy of being an empress.

That thought brought a small wry smile to her lips. What a joy it was, truly.

Regardless: now, at least, she would be alone. And she could take off these damned gloves.

Into her suite, door closed, gloves off -- it was a ritual she’d begun to cherish the longer she had to hide her Mark. It itched to be free. She traced the pattern idly with her free hand as she turned to her desk-

“Fucking hells-” She cut herself short, a hand raised to her her chest in surprise. God of the Void. It was - well, the god of the Void. ...Why? Her eyes shot to him, immediately suspicious. She found it hard to speak at first. He always did that to her - or maybe it was just the aftereffect of the Void, stealing her focus and making her mind wander to mystical and entirely incomprehensible planes. It left her speechless.

She shook her head, trying to clear the call of the Void, and leveled her stare on the black-eyed god, voice steady, if a little on edge. “Why are you here?”

Against the warmth of the flickering shades cast outwards from the fireplace and the candle lit on the windowsill, and the shimmer of little crystal glasses, he contrasted greatly. His form always tugged at the shadows he sat against. They licked at his boots and accentuated his figure, aiding in the air of mystery that typically followed him wherever he went. But here it was just odd.

Here was a boy -- no, of course not; here was a god, sitting against her desk with a bottle of brandy and two cups at the ready. His expression was no different than the one he wore between those brief escapades trudging through Serkonan back alleys, running into the pale lavender glow of whale lamps lining wooden shrines. But he could not see himself. His reflection was a blur to him, he could not determine the way he appeared to her. So in that way, there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

And perhaps just the slightest bit of nervousness as well.

"My my, dear Emily Kaldwin, it's a surprise to hear such foul language from an empress. I wonder what the members of the court would think, how they'd react if you made such a slip in their presence. Would they frown upon you? For being human? Or would they laugh and scoff in that posh way so characteristic of upper nobility?" He leaned back on his hand, dark brows furrowing thoughtfully.

Seeing the Void god in her own quarters was astounding to say the least. She opened her mouth once, as though she might say something, but nothing came to mind, and she closed it soon after, forehead creasing in befuddlement. The last time she’d seen him anywhere other than the Void he’d given her the way-too-powerful-to-bestow-upon-a-25-year-old tool that allowed her to move between times.

Not that the other powers of her Mark were any more appropriate. She glanced at her hand as it itched again, and found it faintly glowing. It irritated her. His patronizing tone didn’t help.

Half of her felt the need to roll her eyes at his statements. Cryptic bastard. Then again… She straightened her spine, raised her chin, put on her Empress face. “You’ll excuse me if I’m a bit…” She debated the right word. “...Crude.” Her lips pursed, eyes sharp as they fell on the god again, and her words were the slightest bit sardonic. “I only ever seem to see you when you need me to dispose of someone.”

Her eyes flicked over his form, looking for any kind of clue, but she found nothing unusual. If one considered the flecks of Void echoes and smoke to be the “usual.” What she did find odd were the glasses set before him. Two of them. Her head cocked to the side almost imperceptibly. Was he expecting another guest, or was this some kind of elaborate introduction to whatever her next mission might be? Surely he wasn’t just… offering her a drink? No, that would be… Just the thought of it made the corner of her lips twitch. Ridiculous. Truly ridiculous. The Outsider himself sitting down for a drink in the private quarters of the Empress of the Isles. The most blasphemous of events, truly.

The Outsider’s eyes glanced over her figure, amusement flickering over his features for a moment. He even almost chuckled, though the sound wouldn't have escaped him, for he felt no need to breathe. It would have been odd and rigid, stiffly opening his mouth with the corner of his lips curving upwards and leaving him with a silently stupid look on his face, as though he'd braced himself for a sneeze that just didn't quite get the message and left him hanging there, waiting. So he stared at her instead, unblinking, almost deadpan as he poured them both a considerable amount of golden liquor.

"Dispose wouldn't be quite the terminology I'd use. Perhaps... proposition. Which, in that case, you would not be wrong in assuming that I have come with yet another proposition in mind. Though this one is different, admittedly, requiring far less skill, far less perception, agility -- all of the things that ready you for combat and keep you steadfast on your feet." His gaze turned downwards and his fingertips traveled along the length of the desk but he did not feel the texture. His motions were slow, smooth and oddly sensual.

It was something he craved. The sensations lingered, memories swimming aimlessly through his mind. He knew what it should have felt like: rough on the bottom, smooth along the top where it had been so carefully polished to Tower standard. But he did not experience it, not through his own right. He felt something stir within him, as he always did when he pondered over that particular loss. Anger. He'd come to recognize it as a bitter frustration, he could not change the past but the past had changed him. Irreparably so. He turned his gaze back up to her, but hidden in his features was just the faintest traces of trepidation.

Emily’s eyes flicked from the Outsider, to the glasses, and back to the Outsider. His black stare was intense. She’d be lying if she tried to claim his gaze was comforting. But she didn’t exactly dislike it, either, oddly enough. It reminded her of the smoke that would curl around her when she and Wyman shared a hookah. Something dark and mysterious - forbidden - and disturbingly sensuous. She felt shivers down her spine, and covered them by taking a few counter-intuitive steps toward the Void god.

Reflexively, an eyebrow raised at his chosen verbiage. “You’ve come to proposition me?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, her lips closing soon thereafter, breaking eye contact as she internally chided herself. Her fingers twitched, eager to reach for a glass and immediately forget she’d ever mentioned that phrase in context. But she hadn’t been offered a drink and she certainly wasn’t going to reach for it like some common sot. She would hold her peace, no matter if her ears were starting to burn. No - back straight, chin up, there were no mistakes.

So instead of taking the glass, she watched his hands. He seemed to take an unusual amount of interest in the polished wooden surface of her desk, fingers skimming and caressing it. The more she watched his hands, the more she thought his motions obscene. She swallowed self-consciously and returned her eyes to his just in time to catch his glance as he looked up once more. There was something off about the way he looked at her. It was so hard to tell with those endless black eyes, but something was different and she was sure of it. Her brow furrowed briefly in confusion and determined curiosity, before she blinked it away. No. It wouldn’t do to pry into the lives of gods. That couldn’t end well for anyone. Still… she couldn’t help the touch of curiosity that still lingered at the edges of her mind.

And still more she wondered: why was he here?

There were several beats of silence but his voice wasn't what broke it. He slid the glass across the desk in front of her, as to draw her attention to it. He never looked away from her though, a strange sensation bubbling in his chest. But something was better than nothing, and when you had only days to live, risks were to be taken.

For the first time in a long while, he was conscious of the way he moved, putting effort into his motions, and spending a little less time thinking about Emily's, even if he was intensely aware of her presence. Her dark almond eyes, her loose strands of hair framing her boldly structured face... her womanhood. He stiffened and forced himself not think about that.

Forced himself to speak.

"The Void is greedy, it laps up anything that comes within its grasps, hungrily devouring the cosmos one star at a time, until one day, every light in the sky will have been ravaged and consumed." He'd always been blissfully ignorant of his sensuality, the way he had with words, the way he phrased things, though methodical, often suggestive.

"... But most of all, it is starving for representation. It craves a figurehead to speak for it, to shower people in its presence and invade reality with slick slippery tendrils coalescing... curling around each and every vestige it can creep its way into... I satiate that desire, for now. Very soon it will search for something else... once I have been properly displaced." He spoke with a bit of caution, skirting around his words, cagey, cryptic as always.

"The Void did not take from what I did not experience. It did not rob me of my life, and I cannot blame it for what it did not do. I cannot blame anyone for perpetuating the course of fate... There were things I did not have the privilege of understanding. Though hardships aplenty, my life before... as I can recall it... was difficult. Cold, numbingly so. The people around me watched in disdain as I withered away on street corners. But what I saw was love, as abundant as the soil beneath us, but priceless in value. I do not desire much. What I proposition... is a taste." His eyes flickered down to her lips before he brought the glass up to his own, sipping the contents, his hands shaking very faintly.

Emily’s fingertips tingled in the heavy silence before he spoke, shaken by the tension, but she was far too aware of her own movements to allow even something as simple as rubbing thumb and forefinger together. He was staring at her - no, into her - those eyes seeming to invade every inch of her body. She was grateful when he slid the glass to her, taking it perhaps a little too quickly and sipping immediately. Sweet. Just the slightest burn on the back of her throat. Deceptively delectable, but she knew too much was a recipe for disaster. As she sipped she watched him carefully, waiting for him to explain himself.

He only seemed to have a brief moment of partial relaxation before his body went rigid, and she found that instant somehow profoundly sad and beautiful. Just a moment of rest before he was swept up in these cosmic forces once more, returned to the place of a god again. For just a moment he’d practically been human. But then he spoke, his voice weaving tapestries both rich and ominous, words dripping over her and sinking into her very bones, and she was left in awe. As his warnings of the universe’s inevitable collapse flowed over her skin she felt them, tight and hot, constricting her chest with an eerie dread.

How did he keep his tone so steady, his attitude so circumspect, even as his words lit on her skin like sparks? He ignited something in her, and the evenness with which he dealt that condition bothered her greatly. She found it hard to keep track of his intentions, too focused on words that crept into her ears, drawing images inside her eyelids, every blink putting her someplace else. And she knew this was important, too. She could tell from his approach, the way his lips formed the words so carefully, choosing each so purposefully - and yet this too was her undoing.

It took a moment for his words to truly sink in, past all the talk of craving and slickness and satiation. Very soon it will search for something else... She felt suddenly jarred, her fingers tightening on the glass in her hand to stop their sudden tremor. He was leaving? Was he - he couldn’t - the Outsider surely wasn’t dying . Her head spun as he went on, breath becoming shallow, trying to keep track of his tale even as the words danced and melded into one another in her head, twisting their meanings into some sensational lewd melodrama.

Emily’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment, focusing her breathing, focusing her mind, calming herself so she might hear the Outsider’s words. Truly, his story was heartbreaking. He’d told her some of it, before - in a way - but these details… She stared at the golden liquid in her glass, swallowing hard, her chest aching with sympathy. Part of her yearned to fight - he gave up so easily, so resigned to this fate - but she knew she could never truly understand the Void and all of its whims and intricacies. Still, there was a fire in her. Even as her breath trembled, something inside her raged and swore and promised to rain down fury on whoever it was that would do such a thing. Even if it was the Void itself.

She blinked rapidly, unsure if the tears she held back were tears of anger, grief, or desperation. Maybe none of those things. Maybe all of them. But they wouldn’t fall. She wouldn’t allow them to fall. She pursed her lips determinedly. A piece of her viewed him as hers in some way. Her connection to the Void, perhaps. The one who showed her things she had never imagined, and gave her powers she never should have wanted. And now someone threatened her -- her… her Outsider. How dare they. She’d had her world yanked away from her once already, she wouldn’t let it happen again.

She felt that fire growing in her heart -- useless, she knew, and yet eternally hopeful. When she finally caught his eyes, hers blazing with this strange desperate fear, she caught just his last words. ...A taste...

“I-” Her voice was hoarse, overwhelmed by this flood of information, and she took another quick gulp of the drink in her glass, flinching a bit even as she tried to ignore the burn, and licking her parched lips. “I don’t-” she looked down at the drink in her hand. “I’m not sure I understand.”

He watched her unwind but found that the way his words touched her were not as satisfying as it once was. The way he could unravel her, inch by inch, seam by seam, it was physically visible now, the influence he had. And he knew that much, as he peered in on her day to day life, as nosy and intrusive as he typically was. He knew lots of things, he knew absolutely nothing at all.

He stood suddenly, upright, not floating nor dissipating and reforming, but walking, stepping forward evenly, his eyes penetrating the depths of her being, searching, seeking for something even he could not determine. A part of him yearned for something he knew only she had. He supposed that part of him was hidden deep beneath layers of stone as black as charred obsidian, the human part of him that howled in despair and relief simultaneously at the idea of dying.

He fell into wispy fractures and appeared behind her only mere moments later and something white chimed in his hand. It was a comb, made from the bones of an ancient leviathan. It was intricately carved with careful attentiveness and a strict attention to detail. It hummed with the song of the Void like most of the "heretical" artifacts.

"... May I, Emily?" His voice was hardly above a whisper and held hidden beneath it a quiet desperation. Her hair was long and fell down her shoulders in waves of dark coffee hues, but only at night did she release it from its tight placement. He would watch her then, taking pins and ties and setting them on her vanity before retiring to a bed far too large for just one person.

How lonely she must have felt each passing night, tossing and turning on a massive mattress. He couldn't help but wonder what it might feel like to occupy the space beside her and watch her drift into unconsciousness. But he nearly immediately disregarded the thought, placing a single hand on her shoulder, bracing himself for any possible reaction. He knew she was a firebrand, it was only in her nature to put up a defiant front; passion ran through her veins.

But he also knew who he was, and how much the Empire loathed him. He often wondered if Emily loathed him in that way. If she felt a hatred for him that was fueled by blind prejudice, and if so, he wondered if it were as intense as the hatred she felt for Delilah, or for the man who stole her mother away that awful day in the Month of Harvest.

Suddenly it mattered. Everyone else in the Isles could hate him, despise him, curse him to the very depths of the Void. But Emily Kaldwin could not. He couldn't stand the concept. He couldn't accept that.

When he’d taken his first steps forward, she’d tensed, breath gone from her lungs in an instant. It reminded her of the Void all over again, and she did as she had done there: kept her chin up, shoulders back, confident even as blood roared in her ears. When he disappeared she froze, and her head snapped to the side as she caught his reappearance in the corner of her eye. She couldn’t turn toward him, even as she willed her limbs to do so. Her feet were frozen to the floor. Her body thrummed -- whether resonating with the energy of the Void or simply trying to contain her suddenly frantic pulse, she wasn’t sure.

His soft request sent goosebumps racing across her skin. Her eyelids felt heavy and it took a concentrated effort to keep them open, so tempting was the urge to close them and enjoy whatever images now danced at the edges of her consciousness. She was a live wire, all sparks and crackling current, and surely if he touched her he would feel it too -- her pent up energy would burn through him, surely, it felt so tangible and so dangerous.

And yet, it didn’t. His hand on her shoulder caused no flash of light, no crack of pain though her - just the small click of her mouth opening in surprise, a gasp that was strangled in her throat, back arching ever so slightly, unsure if she wanted to be closer or farther from him. The Mark on her hand, still glowing softly, caused her no pain but she felt as though it whispered things to her. Dark things. As though it had reached into the furthest recesses of her mind and now let those thoughts flow in a hot stream through her veins, urging her on.

She had to keep her eyes open. If she let herself indulge these thoughts - these images - she would have no control whatsoever. No. She wouldn’t sate that hunger. Not here, with him. She must keep her composure. …And still, a practically morbid curiosity ached in her, and she found herself setting the glass aside to reach with one hand to undo the pins holding her hair in place.

Everything he had done in the past twenty minutes had been extremely out of the ordinary. Every move he'd made, down to the monologues slipping from his lips like strung silk. But it was imperative that she knew. That someone knew before he faded into nothing. He had accepted his fated demise, but he could not accept that everyone would remember him as one of two things: a heretical temptation, or a perverse thing to worship.

He couldn't accept that all the fractured remnants of his humanity would die with him, for what was a man without a legacy? And what was a legacy if no one witnessed it?

This would be his legacy, here in this office, booze burning at the back of his throat, a gentle hand reaching up to collapse against Emily's like soft flower petals, preventing her from continuing on her own. Instead he guided her, unpinning her hair and watching it drop in waves, eyes widening just faintly at the sight.

He was curious, but there was another sensation burning within him that left that still human part of him seething.

He eyed the faintest traces of skin behind the wall of soft strands, reaching up to run his fingers, chilled but not to an uncomfortable degree, through thick brunette locks, knuckles brushing against the back of her neck. He took the comb, nestling it downwards from the top, slowly raking it through, watching like a child admiring a small bird on the windowsill.

"The whole Empire would bend to your will now. Not out of fear, but a deep respect for everything you've experienced. The child empress, a girl no longer, but a woman who fought for the right of her people, without leaving a trail of blood and scraps of sinew behind her. And now she stands here, speechless, dumbfounded. It's almost amusing." His voice took a tone that it had only ever taken once before.

With a little boy whose nose was fractured and gushing crimson ichor, whose bones were fragile and hands trembling in the icy cold. Back then he had spoken to a little dove with broken wings, whose time had ended before it began. But now he was that dove, limping across the pavement, resting his head for one final sleep, and he spoke to her now, almost pleading, but unnervingly calm.

A hum escaped him. Not slow enough to be a lullaby but not quite fast enough to meet the beat of a waltz. It was eerie, layered in whispers of eternity.

His bare fingers brushing hers sent a skittering thrill through her body that hadn’t been there on her clothed shoulder. Her Marked hand throbbed briefly, as though called to this being that even now stood so patiently at her back. Emily felt as though she were in a dream. It was surreal and all too eerie, the play of his fingers through her hair. She expected breath on her neck and felt none, the fact making him seem more of a ghost than ever. Still, as he explored this new sensation, she was touched by how innocent this small request had been.

Her hands dropped, one to the desk and one to her side, nervously playing with the hem of her sleeve unconsciously. His attentions were calming, nothing like what she’d expected of this odd entity. She very nearly relaxed, but his fingers brushing the nape of her neck made her suck in a quick breath, hand tightening on the edge of the desk. Silently scolding herself, she chewed her lip, her muscles tense even as she ordered them to submit. Her body didn’t seem to want to obey her mind, and that made her uneasy.

The comb stroking steadily through her hair immediately reminded her of when she was much younger. These days, she only ever had tower staff help her with her hair for special occasions, much preferring to be self-reliant and do such tasks on her own. But when she was younger, with her mother… And when her mother had died - been killed - there were days as a young empress when a caretaker would soothe her troubled sleep with a horsehair brush and soft cooing lullabies. That didn’t happen anymore. On those nights when her sleep was troubled there was no one to come in and stroke her hair, rub her back, envelop her in comforting arms… And she, of course, refused to ask.

As his movements continued, her body warred with her calming soul - even as her eyes drifted closed again - until finally her muscles yielded, her chin tipping to her chest, her head leaning in to his strokes. Her hand on the desk flexed unconsciously, and as his words slid over her she listened with serene but rapt attention. He praised her even as he marveled at her weakness, and the sentiment left her uneasy, for reasons she couldn’t quite place. She wanted to refute him, but his words were true enough. She was, indeed, speechless.

But there was something more in him, something she couldn’t quite parse from his words and tone. What else is it you want? Because there was surely something else. There was something in his voice - something hollow, empty - that yearned for some unknowable something that she couldn’t envision. A small crease appeared in her brow as she tried to unravel his speech, dissecting the lilt of tones, but as his hum reverberated through him, through the comb, straight into her, she found herself distracted again. Shivering. She could hear the Void on him. More so than in speech, the timbre of his hum echoed with refracted shadows, shards of stone and the fog of aeons. It called to her, raising her pulse, filling her lungs with the idea of ozone and slate, and she found herself turning her head toward him. Not enough to dislodge his steady strokes, but just enough that she might see him from the corner of her eye.

His expression wasn't as steady as his words. His brows were curved down and furrowed together, not in anger, not even in concentration, for his gaze while planted mostly on Emily seemed to drift a bit. As if he were viewing the whole universe along the tender strands he combed through. He could recall nights not long ago, where he'd watched her from the recesses of the Void, watched her stir from her slumber gasping for breath, laying in bed staring distantly at the ceiling, lost in thought as the whole world tumbled around her. Those silent moments, even in their brevity, made his being ache. Not only with the usual emptiness that riddled him but also with a firm longing to comfort her, to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. He wondered how she might react if he did.

But ultimately he decided that was unimportant now. She had a whole life ahead of her. Full of suffering, the grandest of enjoyments, love and hate and all of those tedious little things that made a person human. But he? He was a god. And a god was far less than a man. He was immortal and yet his time was running out.

He slowly set the comb onto the desk, his movements careful but lacking in the cold, hollow method that they usually had. Each step he took was centered on her, his attention was entirely and completely hers as of right now.

Once he'd finished he did not move. "There are some things that even after all of these long years of watching and waiting in the shadows, even after witnessing the cruelest of actions and the most sublime generosities, I still do not understand. The minuscule details that are so crucial to living escape me. And it is simply because I never lived long enough to come to understand them for what they are. I know of men of the highest caliber that shudder at a woman's touch, I have seen the High Overseer himself make haste to his hidden chambers only to share a night with a woman he hardly knows. Risking his career, his reputation, all for the sweet blissful release. Betraying everything he's ever been taught just for a night. And I've pondered if perhaps it's the self destructive nature of man that leads them into such intimate situations. But I've come to the conclusion that it isn't something I am worthy of knowing." He ran the back of his hand down her arm slowly, still standing behind her, his words hitting the back of her neck like a chilled breeze.

"It's a level of intimacy that I could never experience even now, one that I could never ask you to mimic. It would be an outlandish proposition, so it is not mine. But what I wish for are impossible things. Impossible, hysterical little things that you may even find yourself scoffing at. I yearn to feel the sun, beaming down against my face from between the cracks in the drapes that line the windows, I yearn to feel a pulse when I raise my hand to my chest, or to another's-" He appeared in front of her, eyes searching over her features desperately.

His tone fluctuated, sought something, it was clear now what he was feeling; it was fear. He was scared.

His hand settled just below her neck and he slowly shook his head, "I yearn to grasp at those tiny details I never understood, for the more that I see the more that I hunger, the insatiable desire entangling me, if I could breathe it would have choked me by now. It's a bittersweet asphyxiation, reminding me that I am still something, which is better than the alternative, is what I've come to believe," he rambled on, but that calm facade he shrouded himself in had shattered completely.

Emily watched his hands gently setting the comb aside, and her own fingers twitched, seized by the sudden urge to reach for his, to still his hand, feel his skin against hers. But twitch was all they did, staying where she grasped the side of the desk perhaps a bit too tightly, grounding herself. Her lips parted as though she might say something, but nothing came to mind. And then his hand had withdrawn, and the moment had passed.

She listened to his words, still staring at the discarded comb. He’d seen everything, she realized. She’d known it already, but the way he spoke now -- he hadn’t just witnessed everything. He’d seen everything. Watched and examined and observed all the base nature of man. As he went on, she felt a blush rising in her chest. She felt silly for it, but her breath was hot from her parted mouth and she soon felt the need to moisten dry lips, the motion only serving to remind her of the very things that made her blush to begin with.

She wasn’t ashamed of her sexuality, by no means, but that wasn’t what had her skin flush and tingling abashedly. No, not the deeds she’d done. She didn’t regret a single stolen kiss or night spent with a lover. No, she blushed as she realized that, if he’d borne witness to these events, he very well may have seen her wanton acts as well. It wasn’t just sinful overseers tempted into bed by the promise of a woman’s touch.

He had her mind wandering, and feeling his hand trail down her sleeve she suddenly wished that no sleeve parted them. She wished to see his eyes when he witnessed the goosebumps erupt on her skin at his slightest touch, as they did now. Her shoulders shifted, back once more arching at the tingling feeling on her neck, nails digging into the palms of her hands. He claimed he’d never ask her to indulge any of these small intimacies… Was he aware of how he tempted her with the thought? Her own curiosity imagining how he might -- how he might look beneath her. How his skin might feel on hers. How he might taste. She blinked, trying to clear these idle fantasies from her mind. Her errant mind…

Her guilt only deepened as he spoke of his own wishes, so sweet and innocent and pure, and she was the one - him, the Outsider himself, yet she was the one - imagining grander sins.

When he appeared before her, her face was warm, eyes bright, lips parted. She blinked in surprise, but didn’t try to hide. He knew her for what she was, for better or worse. And she was flawed. His touch was cool, but not cold, even against her flaming skin, and it made her throat jump and catch, swallowing hard in response. Her attention shifted between his eyes and his lips, watching each word form with care. She needed to get a hold of herself. She wanted to get a hold of him.

She forced those feelings away, though they never went far, and brought her touch to his, grasping his hand between her own and looking down at where their skin met, even as she swayed toward him, drawn in by some gravity only he possessed. Questions exploded in her mind - When would it happen? How would it happen? Who would do it? How long did he have? How did he know? Was there a way to stop it? - but above all of those things; “What can I do?”

He grinned, genuinely, lips curled into a soft, sad little smile. Emily Kaldwin always sought out an enemy to defeat. She searched desperately for the origins of her problems and most of the time there was one person, or multiple even, who were the cause of said issues. But he supposed it ran in her blood, like the Serkonan hues of her skin, the flecks of gold in her eyes, her collarbones and long neck and dips and curvatures of her figure, all genetic.

He thought back to the bad old days, the days where men bled from the eyes and rats gnawed on bodies yet to be sent off to a landfill in the flooded district by carts on electric rails. The determination in Corvo's eyes, the raw, primal way he hunted down those who'd wronged him. Sometimes shedding blood, others times avoiding it. Perhaps it was genetic, an Attano thing, to catch the Outsider's wandering gaze.

His breath had a scent, not unlike the sea, but there were hints of wildflowers, vanilla candle wax. Altogether it almost smelled sweet. Like a toffee, or a hard candy of some sort. His eyes found her hand in his and it brought him some odd sense of comfort. Everything was most certainly not going to be okay, in fact, it likely wouldn't be much of anything at all. He could imagine a vast nothingness, the escape of death. No more pain, no more fear, confusion, all of the Void's negativity and every small remark muttered under the breath of a city guard on patrol.

He finally turned his gaze up to hers again, "There is nothing you can do, nothing anyone can do. Everything has been set into motion. The cogs are turning, the machine is on. What I ask is... undoubtedly the most selfish request I've made of you yet, and I have made plenty. Especially where you're concerned." He reached up and brushed a bit of hair from her face. "I ask that... I..." He struggled to find a way to phrase it, finding that the words were caught in his throat, they wouldn't escape, swimming aimlessly without any clear direction. He leaned forward, staring down at her lips, concentrated, cautious. "I ask..." he lingered, tilting his head to the side just slightly, lids lowering, "...for a moment's... time..."

His lips were cold, like the majority of him, inexperienced, nervous, apprehensive. At heart he was still a boy who knew of sexuality, but never had the chance to experiment with his own, who'd seen people doing awfully sinful acts but had only briefly been accustomed to his own touch, and that was only very rarely when he felt safe and alone enough to put himself in such a vulnerable position. So here was a god, less than a man, aged by the Void with all of the world's wisdom as nervous and inexperienced as a schoolboy, sharing a kiss with the Empress of Isles. No. With Emily Kaldwin. He could go accepting that as his legacy.

The Outsider’s smile was something she never thought she’d see. It was bizarre and intriguing and it’s sadness sent an aching pang through her chest. A sense of dread crept upon her as he spoke, her head shaking minutely, sensing his conclusions even before they dropped from his lips. No. He couldn’t say there was no way to stop this. She’d done impossible things before. She could do this, if he’d just let her. The anger - the futile drive - flared in her briefly, but was quickly extinguished. She held tighter onto his hand, pleading silently that he could give her something to do, that he could lie to her, tell her that she had a chance to stop this, but she knew it wasn’t so.

Frustration and despair warred in her hollow chest, even as guilt nagged at her, reminding her that he’d come here because he trusted her. Him - a god. He was entrusting this last futile gesture to a young woman twice deposed, who’d twice now reclaimed her throne. And as he lost his… he came to her. She supposed there was some poetic symmetry to it: a relationship that began with a death, to end with one.

Her eyes closed, pained, as he brushed the hair back from her face, and when they opened they burned with a desperate sadness. Her lips parted as he leaned toward her, eyes closing as though she might shield herself from the inevitable loss tomorrow would bring. She inhaled with a shudder as his lips rested a hair’s breadth from hers, tasting the odd mix of man and Void she’d never quite be able to describe.

Her lips were gentle against his, initially thinking she’d let him set the pace before realizing his uncertainty. So instead she led, one hand still holding his while the other cupped his face, drawing him to her, breath escaping between their lips before she pressed against him once more, unconsciously taking a step toward him as she coaxed his lips open with hers.

If the air off his skin was indescribable, there was no possible attempt to be made for the taste of his mouth.

She tried to form coherent thoughts, but her body could only feel him, pressing into him desperately even as she tried to hold herself back. She wanted to be gentle, but it wasn’t just him that was driving her mad -- the Void was intoxicating, and it filled her. She overflowed with some supernatural hunger, needing more of him, feeling the smoke of the Void filling her lungs. More. Her hands trembled, feeling a rush of stone in her blood, her ears echoing with whale song. Was this why witches claimed to lay with the Outsider? The desire to feel this unrestrained power devouring them?

It was so much -- too much. It swept her up in crashing waves and took all she had to pull back, stumbling, her knuckles white where she still held his hand. “Sorry-” she gasped, the hand that had cupped his cheek now grabbing the edge of the desk in surprise, knees weak. If she’d seen her own reflection she may have been horrified, black beginning a thin map of the veins in her neck, a small wisp of smoke dripping from her lips. Her pupils had nearly eclipsed her irises, blinding her until she could blink them back to their regular state. Truly, the Void devoured. “I’m- I’m so sorry.” Her voice was hoarse, broken. She trembled before him as her body readjusted, shocked.

It wasn't good in the traditional sense of the word. It was different, it was the faintest lingering fragmented idea of what he thought a kiss should be. The closeness alone was enough to satiate his desires. His lips entangling with hers, hands settling themselves onto her hips and pulling her closer, pulling her into his being. He could feel the Void swarming around them, wrapping them both in its decaying embrace. He felt like for the briefest of moments they were one, a single entity nestled on a rock hurtling through space. Only him and Emily. Only their lips, their hands, their souls.

He hadn't even noticed the heat, the passion, the drive that Emily's humanity pushed forth. He was focused on the sensations he could feel, rather than the movements or the reality of the moment. He focused on the way she tasted for instance, lips sweetened with the Tyvian brandy, and the warmth that resonated from her quickening breaths. The warmth of her against him, even with the clothing that separated them.

It wasn't enough for him, he realized. He was an insatiable being, never would it be enough, no amount of kissing, frottage or sex would ever be enough to satiate his hunger. He wasn't starving for her sex he realized, he wanted her companionship. He was selfish, he wanted her. He ached to experience these little pieces of life that most took for granted with her.

He stared at her, hair disheveled, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights. His hand gripped the edge of the desk and the shadows around him waned, for just a few seconds his eyes, his real eyes shone through the inky black. Pale green peering back at her before the Void swallowed them and left him back where he started. "...Thank you," he murmured quietly.

She blinked, still disoriented, brow furrowing as she looked with confusion into his eyes. She could’ve sworn - for just a second - but then they were blackest black again. She must’ve imagined it. She turned to lean her hips against the desk, wanting to just collapse into her bed, but a part of her worried about that course of action. She didn’t want him to join her. He terrified her, she realized. No not him, not the Outsider, but that thing that lived in him. That he lived in? That thing that made him who he was. The Void. Raw power that consumed even as it was consumed. A vicious thing. She knew better than to invite something like that into her bed.

When she licked her lips she was relieved to taste more than the impossible essence of the Void, still tasting that odd hint of sweetness that had been unique to the Outsider himself. It did a lot to ease her rattled mind.

She looked back to him, arms wrapping around herself without even realizing it, a wary sad curiosity slowly reigniting in her gaze. “...So what now?” Why did she ask? Surely, the answer would only hurt her.

He did regret it now. Coming here, doing that, leaving her with the horrific memory and the lingering sensation of the Void enveloping her. That feeling of being torn apart piece by piece by raw, unfiltered power. The universe had attacked her for a split second, and he had let it. He turned on his heel and recollected himself, eyes downcast in shame.

But he tried to remain stoic, he tried to pretend as though it hadn't happened. He would hold it together, if not for himself than for her sake.

"... I'll leave you here. And perhaps you'll forget tonight, you'll forget the sound of my voice. Perhaps you'll grow old and you'll recall nothing. Or maybe you will remember every minuscule detail. Either way, I don't have much longer." He was already waning, his presence faltering, shadows fading off as they stretched towards him.

His words stung, and she found herself roused just to prove him wrong. Spite stirred her limbs, shedding the weight of hopelessness that had descended on her. She lifted her chin, straightening, embodying the strength she stood for as Empress. Her eyes, free of the Void’s inky corruption, leveled on him. “I won’t forget.”

She would hunt down whoever was going to do this to him. She would kill them before they got the chance.

Even as the idea entered her head she sourly had to dismiss it. Her people needed her. Her days of chasing after traitors and assassins were behind her now. She sat the throne, and ruled the Empire -- alone. And so did he, in a way. Yet he was so ready to have it all taken from him?

She curiously took note of the undulating shadows that seemed to be calling him home, even as she brought her eyes to his. She gave him a steady, regal nod. “Good luck.”

Somehow he had been expecting more from her, and also less at the same time. More so, he had hoped for more from her. Nothing explicit of course, but perhaps the rest of the evening. He knew though, that it was impossible. He glanced at the comb of bone on the desk and listened to it call out to him. The buzzing had been a nuisance at first but now it was mere background noise to him.

The Void was calling to him. It wanted him back, it urged him, shadows licking at his boots and hands almost affectionately. He had no choice but to accept his fate, even if now more than ever he desperately desired a completely different one. "...You're as gracious as ever." He spoke in hardly above a whisper and yet it still sounded as if his voice had cracked.

"You're truly the most fascinating woman in the Isles, Emily. It was an honor to give you my Mark." He dispersed, his being fractured, shadows engulfing one another until he was gone completely, leaving the room emptier than it had ever been before.

Read pt 2 here.

[maccymacdonald]

A Study in Sunny

When asking how much of an impact television shows have and why they are so important to us, I’m sure the latter is a question that’s lingered in the minds of many parents concerned with their child’s obsessions with various things, whether that be bands, actors, sports stars or TV shows. I know I for one have endured the embarrassment of my dad bringing up my new hyper fixation at family dinners or my friends roasting me for whatever new poster I’ve just bought. Even before I planned on writing this article, I think I’ve always known my short-lived obsessions or long time loves have always been deeper than superficiality. (Maybe my High School Musical phase can be excluded from that, though).

I think there’s a lot more to what we watch that makes us cling so hard to our shows, and that they genuinely have a huge influence and emotional impact on our lives. A few people I’ve talked to or seen online think that my generation’s attachment to fiction universes is a bad thing, which to an extent I can understand. However, at the risk of sounding dramatic,  I truly believe TV shows have unimaginable impacts on us.

Whether that’s simply making us laugh until our sides hurt or allowing us a brief distraction from our messy lives there’s so much that shows offer us than just entertainment. Whether you find solace in living vicariously through your favourite character or simply enjoy being able to relate to a situation close to your heart, why should it matter what others think? How could we not hyper-fixate on something that to some extent reflects who you are and what you find compelling about life? And really, who’s to say that doing so is detrimental when to some, a show could be their only outlet to express themselves? I don’t know about you, but I can’t see anything wrong with that at all.

While its all well and good me saying all this, I thought I needed proof. I want to prove that TV shows touch people in many different ways and have the ability to improve lives, and that to many, tv shows mean so much more than what they are on the surface. The only way I was going to prove it, however, is with evidence. So I did a little research.

One of my favourite TV shows of all time is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Rated 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s millions of committed fans and numerous awards make it one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. It’s extremely dark and controversial humour torpedoes taboo topics in the most hilarious and ridiculous scenarios, yet remains subtly brilliant in the way it presents itself and it’s characters. If you haven’t seen it, (in which case the rest of this post will probably make no sense and I’d advise you to binge it, right now), the show centres around five terrible friends who run an equally terrible bar in downtown Philadelphia.

I decided to run a survey about how Always Sunny has affected its fans. I chose this show in particular because each character is so complex and profound in their own right I can see how easy it is for many people to connect with them on such personal levels.

I think the thing I found funniest when starting this show is that the characters are seemingly just really bad people. Every member of the gang has been arrested for something, they’re all alcoholics, they’re constantly thinking of new get-rich-quick schemes and regularly ruin other people’s lives without a second thought. In a most extreme example, my brother can’t even watch the show simply because he genuinely hates the characters (which all in all, is fair enough.) However, I believe beneath the surface of the arguments and violence there’s a depth to every character that you don’t always see in light-hearted comedies.

“They are the most elaborate, multi-dimensional, complicated and most well-written characters in any show ever, especially comedy.”

The characters are all very different. While Dennis is constantly harassing women and plotting against his family, he’s also extremely insecure and vulnerable. He was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in season ten, which leads to him often being shown to struggle with his emotions and ability to feel. He’s an incredibly complex character who I think is often just overlooked as the psychotic angry man, which isn’t true at all.

His sister Dee entertains the more slapstick and needy version of her brother. She too is very easily agitated and has no patience, as well as she’s always desperate for validation (where most of her humour stems from). Because of this, she is immensely guarded of her emotions, also due to the perpetual verbal abuse she’s endured from her family her entire life.

“I can relate to her past with being bullied, and her constant need for affection and to be told that she is good.”

Mac, on the other hand, wears his heart on his sleeve. His development of starting the show as a heavily religious closeted gay man to openly out and proud over 12 years was really inspiring to watch, and his father issues and struggles with acceptance is what makes him one of the most engaging and interesting characters.

His best friend Charlie is also fascinating. On the surface, he is a substance abuser and alcoholic, unhygienic, illiterate, and highly unpredictable. But beyond that, he is very loving and supportive (most of this time).  He adores Frank and is usually happy to do anything for his friends. As a sexual abuse survivor, he is such an important character because it’s clear especially in the later seasons that he truly loves and believes in himself, and regardless of how others see him he never attempts to change who he is. Not only that, but many fans believe he’s autistic meaning his character is not only lovable but awesome representation.

A few months ago I launched a survey that 206 wonderful people responded to. Even though I’m involved with the Always Sunny community every day through social media, it really helped me get an understanding of the bigger picture, rather than just memes and discourse (although I wouldn’t change the Sunny Tumblr fandom for the world). So before I dive in I want to thank everybody that took the time to respond to the survey or talk to me privately, as you’ve helped everyone that reads this gain more of an insight into It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and it’s amazing fanbase, which I appreciate tremendously.

(And before I start, the overwhelming majority classed themselves as being obsessed with the show, and almost 100% have dedicated some form of social media to it, so you know these results are the real deal.)

While many people, like I do, watch the show on their own, over half watch it with friends and 49% say watching the show helps them bond with someone. I thought this was quite interesting because whether it’s your friends, parents, siblings or anyone else, if a show brings people together it really can only be a good thing, especially a comedy show.

I think a lot of people don’t realise how important tv shows are to relationships. I once knew someone who told me the only time they ever spent with their father was when they watched their favourite programme together. This shows how powerful tv shows are – to some, they’re vital for bonding and spending time with someone you love. They allow you the opportunity to do something fun which inspires conversation and communication, things not always easy to achieve.

While this is really important, there are three main things that stood out in this survey as the most relatable and helpful to fans. Charlie’s autism, Mac’s sexuality, and Dennis’s BPD. After reading the results it became obvious that so many people relate really strongly to these characters, each one holding something personal to every different person who watches the show.

“I really like Charlie because he very accurately portrays a dyslexic person and I think that’s really great. I also really like Mac because I can relate to him being very closeted so his progression to acceptance of himself was really nice to see for me, so his storyline, as problematic as it may be, I do find to be very realistic and relatable. I can also relate to Dennis in a really dark way, with the borderline personality disorder, so he also has a special place in my heart.”

Predictably, ‘Who is your favourite character?’ is one of the questions I asked, and this is what came back.

Charlie had the most votes with 58%, while Mac wasn’t far behind with 53%.

(And whoever gave a notable mention to special agent Jack Bauer and Poppins the invincible dog, I love you.)

As you can see, Charlie and Mac are the clear favourites. ‘Wild Card’ Charlie has attained number one though and has been a fan favourite for a long time. While there are hundreds of reasons to love him (he’s my favourite too), I think most people just see him as the funniest character. (Which is completely justified). However, apart from his humour, which obviously a lot of viewers adore, there are many other reasons fans love Charlie Kelly and the other characters so much.

Something I found interesting was quite a few responses mentioned Charlie’s autism. While it’s never been explicitly stated in the show that autism is definitely a condition he has, it’s something many fans have speculated about. It’s pretty much confirmed Charlie is autistic due to certain things he does or certain personality traits he has, explained brilliantly by Reddit user carrionkid in this post.

“I really like how his character is almost certainly autistic. It helps me realize that it’s not something that I should be ashamed of, and I also really like the way he’s played and written in general, and his musical talent! I find a lot of comfort in the ways he’s similar to me. I relate so strongly to that feeling of being left out and trying really hard to make your friends like you.”

Charlie is obviously a character that some fans have a deep connection to. Autism isn’t often portrayed well or accurately on-screen, and well-developed characters like Abed Nadir in Community and JJ Jones in Skins are very rare. Frankly, representation of various mental conditions is majorly lacking in the film and television world. So to see someone as complex and engaging as Charlie Kelly is really refreshing and important in the progression of television.

“I find Charlies’s autism symptoms make me feel more comfortable and accepting of myself as I might not be otherwise, due to past experiences with people telling me that I am not autistic despite my diagnosis (even though these comments were motivated by bigotry towards minorities I fit into I still find it hard to ignore them).”

Characters like Charlie show how much of an impact TV shows can have. Being able to relate to a character is a really big deal – finding something like a show that seems so unimportant, yet turns out to be something genuinely helpful in accepting who you are and being less lonely is really special. I think the personal connections between characters and viewers are underrated. At a certain point, they stop being characters, and you see them as yourself. Albeit a more exaggerated, problematic version of yourself, I suppose.

Probably the biggest thing that a huge amount of people responded to is Mac’s sexuality, and his troubles with learning to accept and love himself as an extremely religious gay man.

“Mac became a favourite [of mine] since at the time I was very closeted and so was he, and I felt protective of and comforted by him.”

If I’m totally honest, there were times in the first few seasons I really didn’t like Mac, but I think it just took me a while to understand him – Mac is a very dramatic guy, simply because he expresses his emotions so outwardly while the rest of the gang often struggle to. He tries to hold nothing back and is very open with who he loves, and I think this is why it was so heartbreaking to watch him suffer from his internalised homophobia and closeted sexuality.

There were so many people on this survey talking about how much they relate to him. In fact, when asked what kind of things in Alway Sunny has helped people with on a personal level, a third of respondents said Mac’s sexuality, and 38% said the show’s acceptance of their LGBTQ+ characters.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The writers and creators (Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day who incidentally play the characters of Dennis, Mac and Charlie) confirmed that each member of the gang is bisexual, while Mac himself is homosexual. This kind of representation, even though the topic was addressed off-screen, is still important for diversity and providing safe, inclusive characters for viewers to watch that aren’t harmful to the LGBTQ+ community or at risk of being killed off. In the unfortunate television culture now where LGBTQ+ characters are constantly under threat from the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope, it’s so important to have such a well-developed, funny, human character like Mac around, who is happier than he’s ever been and isn’t going anywhere.

“The pay-off of him finally coming to terms with his sexuality was refreshing in the way that it didn’t become the butt of a joke or change the nature of his character completely.” 

It was really emotional to see people responding to the survey who have grown up in unaccepting, extremely religious families who found solace in witnessing Mac’s journey and finding hope in his coming out arc. It really is wonderful to see how comforting Mac is to people having a hard time and who may not have anyone else to relate to.

“Mac’s character development resonated with me. Even though it was over the top and exaggerated in the show, the extreme Christian life of a closeted gay person and falling in love with your best friend was relatable.”

It’s been a running element of the show for a long time that he’s very much in love with Dennis, and whether their relationship is another case of queerbaiting, a simple gag that won’t actually amount to anything, or the longest slow burn relationship ever, Mac is still awesome representation and an amazing character who embodies many of the struggles and hardships real people face every day. And he’s an example of someone who overcame all of it.

While the gang have earned themselves a reputation for never giving a shit about each other, it’s pretty clear deep down they do all love one another. To see the gang unfazed by and supportive of Mac’s sexuality, (especially given Charlie and Mac have been best friends their entire lives and Charlie tells him he’s always known) is clearly very comforting and inspiring to a lot of viewers afraid of coming out.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I  recently chatted with awesome Tumblr user Sunnystruck. On her blog she explained the importance of Mac’s storyline way better than I ever could:

Mac’s coming out arc is so unique and personal to me because it’s one of the very rare instances of fictional coming out arcs that doesn’t involve a romance as the transformative catalyst for a character embracing their sexuality or coming out.

Even when everyone else knows and recognizes that Mac is gay, he still has to figure out how to get there on his own terms. It takes him so long, and then to see him love and embrace that decision about himself is so refreshing. He comes out and celebrates his gayness openly and because he spent so fucking long getting to that point and so much time wrestling with it in terms of what it meant for his identity and his image – which again, are completely personal.

It took him a long time to love a part of himself. And that’s truly a kind of representation that gets to me.

Even though I came out to my friends and immediate family I’m still navigating how to embrace that around them and seeing Mac be so gay in some episodes makes me feel so normal. He’s really fucking gay and it shows, and I can relate to that. And he still took his time and that means so much to me especially in an age where straight people claim to have gaydar and say they’re waiting for someone to come out but it’s not their call you know? It’s ours. They don’t dictate our stories, we do. That means something.

Meanwhile, Mac and Charlie aren’t the only ones who struck a chord with viewers. Dennis also got a lot of attention from fans, mostly, I found, because of his borderline personality disorder.

Dennis has always shown signs of extreme mental illness. He is immensely manipulative and cold, often being compared to a rapist and serial killer. While claiming to be completely emotionless (which most of the time, he is), Dennis is prone to extreme bouts of rage. While these moments are funny to watch, Dennis’ behaviour has always signalled to something more serious, and in season 10 he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

“I relate the most to Dennis because before getting treatment for DID and BPD I was very similar to him.”

For those who don’t know, BPD is a disorder of mood and how a person interacts with others. While there are many causes for developing BPD, a prevalent one is traumatic events which occur during childhood. Many people with BPD have experienced parental neglect or physical, sexual or emotional abuse during their childhood. This would make sense for Dennis, as he and Dee often describe the way in which Frank is a terrible and emotionally abusive father. Not only that but in the eleventh season Dennis reveals he had sex with the middle-aged school librarian, Mrs Klinsky, when he was 14. Despite his insistence he wasn’t raped, the experience seems to have been very traumatic and has left obvious scars.  These factors probably contributed to his emotional issues and extensive mental illness.

“I don’t “relate” to Dennis but his trauma and the way it manifests has been really helpful for me in dealing with my own trauma.”

Dennis is an extremely complicated character, who may at first seem impossible to relate to, as his personality and behaviour are extremely complex. Despite this, or maybe because of this, a lot of people relate to him on many different levels. Some respondents said they also have difficulty comprehending social boundaries or emotional relationships. Some said that simply seeing a character be diagnosed with a condition they have is extremely comforting and helpful.

“I relate to Dennis in him having BPD. I didn’t even really know it was a thing until he was diagnosed with it, then I looked into it more to understand it and realized (to my horror, confusion, and ultimate relief) that he had the same thing as me.“

While in some ways I think the portrayal of Dennis’s BPD on the show can sometimes be quite problematic in terms of positive representation, his diagnosis has clearly been very important to a lot of people. This character is evidently very reassuring and solacing, and his effort in getting help and medication (although reluctantly at first) is extremely encouraging and inspiring to those in a similar position.

Okay, so that was a lot of information. Although, before you call me out for wasting time or over-analysing a sitcom, I’m not the only one:

So suck it. But seriously, while I went into probably unnecessary and excessive detail, I did actually have a point.

The point I’ve tried to make here is that TV shows are extremely important. They’re important because of the immense impact they have on their fans.

Hypothetically speaking, TV show creators have a choice to use their influence for good or bad (or worse, indifference). It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has succeeded in carefully crafting characters which resonate strongly with their audience, and whose storylines and personalities are so well thought out and developed they’ve helped fans cope with a number of issues they’ve struggled to get help for anywhere else.

TV shows do affect us greatly. While the most common examples of this are being heartbroken over your favourite character dying, falling in love with a show so much you make it your life or a show inspiring you to follow a certain career or lifestyle, the responsibility TV shows have for creating a safe and inclusive environment where you can see yourself  being represented is, in my opinion, much more important. From what I’ve seen, countless popular shows just simply aren’t trying hard enough. Shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead have become slightly infamous for their mistreatment or lack of representation of POC and LGBTQ+ characters, and every day a new show emerges that inevitably gets slated for romanticising or glorifying mental illness.

To disagree and say that TV shows don’t have an obligation to be diverse is something I just can’t understand. An audience is never exclusively white, straight, neurotypical individuals, and to assume that they are is absurd. While Always Sunny has a long way to go in its inclusion of POC characters, it’s one of the few shows I’ve seen that present such varied and interesting people who are so easy to fall in love with.

It’s so important to feel represented on-screen, so if anyone in any way can relate to Charlie, Mac, Dennis, or any of the other characters, and become happier because of it, it’s a win. So I believe yes, TV shows are important, and their effect is monumental.

If you managed to make it this far without falling asleep and want to obsess over this dumb show together, follow my Sunny blog!

CREDIT:

Thank you to these people for letting me use your screenshots or taking the time to chat with me! 🙂

phenomenaaa

milksteaksandghouls

god-hole

macdennisd

wjldcard

How much do TV shows really affect us? Why are they so important?

[saebrfan]

Well, that’s a hell of a way to kick off the final stretch of the season, isn’t it? Tonight’s spectacular episode of Arrow set the stage for a tense, thrilling, and emotional conclusion to Season 5, a season that has been, in my opinion, the show’s best since the unmatched Season 2. However, if the next four episodes of Arrow can reach the same incredible heights that “Dangerous Liaisons” hits, there’s a chance that Season 5 could match, if not surpass the quality of Arrow‘s outstanding second season. But in order to do that, the show is going to need to do what it does when it’s at its best and focus on the Holy Trinity of characters, the Big Three, the OTA: Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle.

The reason why “Dangerous Liaisons” is one of the best episodes of Season 5 is because it turns its attention over to Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle and allows the three of them to have meaningful interactions with one another. There are debates over morality and whether the ends justify the means, but none of it feels like surface-level superhero discussions and that’s all because it’s rooted in the deep, powerful history that that these three characters share.

Simply look at all the mentions and nods to the past in tonight’s episode if you need proof of that. When Diggle tells Oliver that the two of them know what grief can do to a person, he’s specifically referencing not just Laurel’s death but also Tommy’s and Moira’s and, of course, Andy’s. And when Felicity calls out Oliver for not having her back, for not supporting her actions like she has supported his throughout the five years she’s been a part of Team Arrow, it’s easy to remember the countless times that Felicity went along with Oliver’s more problematic plans or allowed him to use his less-than-ethical methods to take down villains that were threatening Star City.

But more importantly, what Felicity says in that final scene, and really what she and Oliver say to each other throughout the entirety of this episode, reminds us of how essential their relationship is to Arrow‘s DNA. What the two of them have can’t simply be defined as a romance; they’re not just like every other TV love story. As we’ve seen numerous times throughout Arrow‘s five seasons, Felicity Smoak has been and remains Oliver Queen’s conscience—she’s his most enthusiastic supporter and his harshest critic, the voice inside his head who constantly tells him that he can be better and do better, even when he keeps doubting himself.

However, in “Dangerous Liaisons,” the roles are reversed, as Oliver tries to bring Felicity back from the brink of darkness, and even though he isn’t successful, it still serves as an important piece of their story and a major sign of his evolution. The Oliver Queen of old, the person who was more monster than man, would have never objected to Felicity’s work with Helix and their plan to break Cayden James free from ARGUS custody; if their actions ensured that they would be able to track Chase, the old version of Oliver would haven’t blinked an eye at breaking the law or injuring innocent ARGUS agents. Now, though, after Chase has forced him to confront the monster inside and after five years of Felicity’s constant, unwavering support, Oliver is finally ready to be that conscience for Felicity—he is ready to encourage her and advise her to make the right choice for all the right reasons, to ensure that she doesn’t fall into the same pit of darkness that he has been trapped inside of in the past, and to help her be the best version of herself.

All of this is why Oliver and Felicity are finally at a place now in which they can believably reunite as a couple. While the two of them have always had magnificent chemistry and have always possessed the ability to make one another laugh or smile (just look at the grin on Oliver’s face after Felicity mentions that he’s finally using the front door of her apartment in tonight’s episode), they needed to reach a place of growth and maturity, a place in which they both could be sounding boards for each other, strong individuals that bring out the best in one another. That was there before in terms of Felicity always bringing the best out of Oliver, always inspiring him to be a true hero, someone that the people of Star City could look up to. But now that Oliver has confronted his demons, that he’s dealt with his original sin of being a killer for killing’s sake, he’s finally able to purge himself of the guilt and pain that restricted him before, that caused him to lie and keep secrets, which is the whole reason why Felicity broke off their engagement in the first place. Oliver is now ready and worthy to be a true partner to Felicity, and with next week’s episode, “Underneath,” centering on the two of them and featuring pretty much nothing but Oliver/Felicity scenes, I think he’ll be able to prove that to his former fiancée and put them on the path to their romantic reunion.

The Oliver/Felicity conflict in tonight’s Arrow is extremely well-written, but it also helps that Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards are fantastic throughout the hour, delivering what might be their best work since “Who Are You?” (another terrific episode that primarily focused on Oliver and Felicity—hmm, I’m sensing a pattern here). David Ramsey is also absolutely heartbreaking, as Diggle deals with the fact that Lyla, unlike Felicity, might not be able to be brought back from the darkness and that, despite how much he loves his wife, the two of them may never be able to resolve the problems that broke them up years ago. I’m still hopeful that Lyla’s turn here, as she begins to understand why Amanda Waller was the way she was, isn’t permanent and that she and Dig will be able to find a way to make it through this. However, whether the two of them can bounce back from these ARGUS-related issues or not, Diggle is going to need friends to lean on, and you better believe that it will be Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. Just like he’s been there for them throughout their years of up-and-down romance and emotional turmoil, they will do the same for him.

Outside of all the outstanding emotional moments throughout “Dangerous Liaisons,” the episode also offers some tremendous action, particularly that final set piece in which Helix breaks Cayden out of ARGUS custody. Everything from Dinah taking down the mercenaries in a hand-to-hand fight to Curtis using his T-Spheres to scare off his enemies is so much fun to watch. Plus, the action only benefits greatly from the fact that we are so invested in the emotional stakes of it all; we understand that what’s going on here is bigger than just Team Arrow stopping a villain—for Oliver and Diggle, this is a battle for Felicity and Lyla’s souls.

And then just when you think the episode can’t get any better, there’s that cliffhanger: Oliver and Felicity discover that Adrian Chase is inside the Arrowcave and then a bomb goes off. What type of bomb is it? Are Oliver and Felicity okay? What exactly is Chase planning? These are all exciting questions that “Dangerous Liaisons” leaves us with, and after how entertaining and emotional this episode was, I can’t wait to see what happens next week. What a way to come back from a four-week break. Welcome back, Arrow. I missed you.

Other thoughts:

I didn’t mention it above, but I can’t stress how much I loved this week’s storyline with Quentin and Rene. The two of them together are a fantastic duo when they’re just trading barbs; however, having Quentin take the time to help his friend reunite with his daughter, when he knows that he’ll never have the chance to do that with Laurel, is pretty damn beautiful and a very poetic and powerful way of keeping Laurel’s spirit alive in the Arrow universe. Very nice job by the Arrow writers with this storyline and great work from both Paul Blackthorne and Rick Gonzalez. Can we take a moment to acknowledge just how amazing of a scene that conversation between Oliver and Felicity in her apartment is? When she tells him that he no longer needs to carry the burden, that she can take it for him, that’s some powerful stuff. Seriously, if that’s not love, I don’t know what is. So do we really think that’s the end of Helix on Arrow now that Alena and the group have parted ways with Felicity? The fact that we never see Cayden James’ face makes me think that the hacking organization will be back in a major way. Perhaps as a villainous threat in Season 6? How wonderfully nerdy is Curtis about the arcade in tonight’s opening scene? “It was vintage.” There are so many great, biting Felicity Smoak lines in tonight’s episode, but I think my favorite has to be her response to Oliver saying he’s sorry that she no longer is working with Helix: “Thought you were never going to lie to me again.” “First, close the door. Second, what have I told you about calling me ‘Hoss’?” “Don’t.” “Thank you, Hoss.”

[hopelesslyshippingthem]

Got a request, Bumblebee Monarch AU where Yang works for the group known as Monarch that studies massive unidentified terrestrial organisms aka MUTO's (Like Godzilla and Kong and other Kaiju's) and is a security guard while Blake works in the pediatric ward where they take care of young MUTO's with Blake taking care of a baby Godzilla with Yang cooing over how cute it looks but Blake reminds her what it can when grows it up.

I had far too much fun writing this. Both of your prompts thus far have been great, and things I never knew I needed to write until you requested them.

Yang waved at a few other securityguards as she passed, grinning at them cheerily in the brightly litcorridor. It was a pretty quiet Tuesday, and honestly, that’s howeveryone liked it; quiet. No one wanted to have to deal with anotheroutbreak, and the fact that it had been three weeks without incidentwas a ground-breaking record for all of Monarch. Hell, they werestill cleaning up parts of the facility from when that slug M.U.T.O.got out from the pits. It had been the slowest jailbreak ever, andhonestly, they had responded fairly humored to the entire thing,because it was actually kind of entertaining to watch it sloooowlytry to escape.“Xiao Long.” A stern voice stated frombehind her. “My office, now.”Yang sighed, not even havingto turn to know it was Weiss. “Yes Ma'am.”With a deftturn on the hell of her boot, Yang walked into the office, thesmaller woman holding the door open for her silently. When both wereinside, the door clicked shut as Yang remained standing, Weisssitting behind her large desk, motioning to the chair close to theblonde. “Have a seat.”Yang didn’t move. “No thank you,Ma'am.”

Ice cold blue eyes locked with hers asshe paused from shuffling around various files and papers. “Thatwasn’t a request. Sit down.”Yang felt her stomach sink asshe obeyed, not eager to infuriate the Director. “How long have youbeen with us, Xiao Long?” She asked, looking at several documentsinstead of the woman she was addressing.

“About four years now, Ma'am.” Shewas very nervous, one hand tracing the gun on her hip a bit to easeherself. “Maybe coming up on five?”Weiss nodded. “Isee. You were requested to be transferred to the scientific unit inIceland three times, yet you declined. Why is that?”Anotheruncomfortable shuffle. “With all due respect, you know why, Ma'am.I’m more comfortable here as a security officer, than working as ascientist at the main branch.” Lilac hues met with blue. “May Iask what this is about?”Weiss retrieved a pair of glassesfrom a drawer, placing the silver framed items on her before lookingthrough a file very intently. “This is about knowing if I haveplaced my trust in the right person, Xiao Long. I have already spokento Adel as well about this very topic, and rest assured that all ofthe paired security and medical personnel will also be receiving thisvery talk.” She glanced at the nervous blonde over the top of thepapers. “Don’t think that you’re special by any means.”Sheturned the file around, allowing Yang to see the contents. Inside themanila folder was all of the information on Blake Belladonna fromM.U.T.O. pediatric center, all of the data neatly recorded. Age,height, weight, even about what she was created from; which no one,not even Blake herself, was sure about. “You seem to be very closeto your charge, Xiao Long. You spend an awful lot of time in herfacility. Care to explain why?”Yang smiled apologetically.“I actually find the M.U.T.O. very cute. I like spending timethere, watching them.”Weiss seemed unimpressed. “And whatabout your tasks?”A slight fidget. “Well, Ma'am, ifyou’ve been watching me as closely as your documentation suggests,then you also know that aside from my regular patrols, I go thereduring my free time, and I always leave before lights out.”“Hmph.”Weiss grunted. “And, if the need arises, will you be able to doyour job?”Yang felt all humor drain from her body, leftwith a cold, hollow dread in place of the now gone warmth. “If thattime ever comes, then I will do my job. And I think I speak for allof us paired personnel when I say that I pray that it nevercomes.”Weiss watched her carefully, then shut the file.“Very well. That will be all, Xiao Long. Please return to yourregular patrols.”Yang didn’t think she could march out ofthat office fast enough, almost running directly into Coco in herhaste. “You got it too, huh?”Yang exhaled loudly,nodding. “Yeah. Wanted to make sure I wasn’t compromised.”Cocosmiled, lowering her sunglasses playfully. “Well, I guess with ourjobs, you can’t be too careful. I mean, we don’t just protect thisplace; we kinda also protect the world.”Nodding, the twowomen began to walk together down the all too clean hall, waving atRuby as the younger woman looked up from her clipboard, nudging Norato get her to see them too. Yang was pretty damn pleased that Rubyhad joined as a scientist, and even more so when she had found outthat they would be in the same facility together. While she had grownclose to her fellow researcher Nora, Yang was perpetually concernedthat the ginger would accidentally destroy the entire facilitybecause of some botched cooking attempt. Coco, Emerald, Neo, andherself had used a batch of muffins in place of bowling balls to dropoff of the nearby cliff twice to the same effect. Hopefully, Glyndawouldn’t let her make anything for the upcoming staff party.Anudge on her ribs caused Yang to look down, seeing Neo walking nextto her with an impish smile. While the mute wasn’t her favoriteperson in the world, she was just as mischievous as the pair of them,her husband being the only being alive that could keep her in line.“Sup Neo. How’s Roman doing? I heard he got sick.”Deftly,the smaller woman signed that he was doing better, but was notallowed near the labs he normally worked in yet. It seemed he wasgetting frustrated with being pent up like an animal. “That must berough for him.” A nod. “We’re heading to peds. You wanna tagalong?”She shook her head, quickly explaining that she hada meeting with Cinder in ten minutes and that she didn’t feelcomfortable there. “Fair enough. Good luck with the meeting.”Neowaved and walked off, the two guards walking in silence the rest ofthe way to the pediatric center. Silently, Yang and Coco held theirwrist badges up to the sensor, the door opening with a beep to allowthem into the vestibule before the main center. “So, what do youthink had the Director in a tissy?” Coco muttered, looking throughthe glass at the large room on the other side.Yang shrugged.“Beats me. She never is one to be warm that I’ve seen, but I hearthe poor bastard who work for her sister in Moscow wish that they hadours there. Maybe they were digging up on that…. that accident afew months back.”Soberly, her friend nodded. “Yeah. Maybethey’re up her ass about security for the paired employees. I guessthat would make anyone crabby.”Yang pressed her face intothe glass quite suddenly, clearly excited. “Ohh! Ohh! Look at thetiny M.U.T.O! The one Sun’s got!” A very strong lookingmale was holding a small creature that looked like a cross between arabbit and a tiger, talking to it softly as he held it in his arms.They watched as he reached with his tail to lift a small rock with asample of uranium, holding the radioactive item in his hand like anoffering. The creature that looked to be the size of a cat sniffed atthe material, finally nibbling on the stone. Sun smiled at the tinyM.U.T.O. infant, turning at the voice of Neon from across the room,casually adjusting the band around his bicep as he tilted his headtowards her, Blake also coming over with a small lizard lookingcreature in her arms.Monarch had been a very small, singlefacility long ago, and so very few people were willing to look afterthe very young monsters, let alone able to do anything similar enoughto controlling them. Is as expensive to constantly have to shell outmillions for hazard pay, and even more so when several dozenemployees a year would die from handling the ‘food’ for the youngM.U.T.O.s, not even counting the ones that died when trying to managethem when they hit their angsty adolescent phase. And so, from theeternal wisdom of Ozpin, researchers started working on engineeringsomething that could interact with the infants on a near constantbasis without dying from the radiation levels. And so, the Faunuswere born. Human-like creatures made from human, animal, and M.U.T.O.strands of DNA for their biological make-up. The result hadtaken a few hundred tries, but they finally created something perfectfor their needs; able to handle M.U.T.Os without dying from theradiation that their own bodies could ingest, and even communicatewith them and help them possibly form bonds. But Ozpin began towonder if his experimentation was a bit too perfect. Therewere rarely any problems with the new creatures he had created, andhe worried that something was brewing just below the surface, intheir genetics. He instructed both his staff, and the other fivefacilities to put the Faunus under constant supervision, all of themnow given an arm band that monitors the level of M.U.T.O antibodiesin their bloodstream. Eventually, he deemed it necessary to take it astep further, forcing every single Faunus to be paired with a humanstaff member, in case of something unknown occurring. He continued toexperiment on them, even on the ones that were working directly withthe infant creatures that they cared for. Finally, he had caused thething he had feared, and no one was quite sure if he had done it onpurpose or not. A young male Faunus, Adam Taurus, had justfinished recovering from one of Ozpin’s experiments and had returnedto the nursery when his body began to violently warp. A hard,metallic exoskeleton began to slowly grow on his skin, his irisesalmost glowing a faint red as he fell to the floor, screaming inunderstandable agony. As security and researchers alike scrambled toget into the M.U.T.O pediatric ward, he leapt upon one of the femaleFaunus that had rushed to his aid, attempting to mate with her. Hispaired security guard Mercury, tried to reason with him, butultimately, he was no longer the person he had once been, and so theguard had been forced to kill him. All experiments on the Faunus hadfinally stopped in all nearly thirty years ago, but no one knew if,or when, any of the Faunus would start becoming M.U.T.Os like Adam,and several others had ended up doing. A few months ago, a youngFaunus had started changing into a M.U.T.O when returning from themess hall, his partner unable to kill him. Due to Jaune’s inabilityto execute the now dangerous creature, the infected Faunus killedhim, and began to seek out the nearest female Faunus to breed with. Aresearcher, Pyrrha Nikos, had ended up taking the gun from Jaune’smangled corpse and shooting him dead, saving the facility from apossible outbreak of rogue Faunus.A tap on the glass pulledYang from her incredibly depressing thoughts, seeing Velvet standingin front of them on a platform. “You lot want to come in? We’rejust cleaning up from feeding.” Coco and Yang looked ateach other, then back at Velvet and nodded, once again using theirbadges to enter the restricted area; only essential and pairedpersonnel were allowed into the main pediatric floor. Sun sat at hisdesk, typing notes as he brought a cup of coffee to his lips with histail, giving the guards a nod before returning to his work. Yangbroke away from the partnered duo in search of her own partner,walking up to Blake from behind as quietly as possible. “Yang,you know I can hear you sneaking, right?” She stated blandly.Witha chuckle and a rub to the back of her head, Yang halted. “Can’tstop a girl from trying.”Blake turned, her ears twitchingfrom time to time to catch various sounds, the tiny M.U.T.O still inher arms. “It’s not dinner time yet, is it?”“Nah. Justmaking the rounds. And who is this little nugget of scales?” Shecooed, leaning down to look at the creature in Blake’s arms.“He’sa lizard. Type one, and he’s already trying to walk on his hindlegs.” Blake smiled, looking down at her charge. “I mean, hecan’t, and he falls into everything, but that doesn’t stop him fromtrying. I’d let you hold him, but he just finished eating radiation.I’d be worried it might kill you.”Yang squealedslightly.”But he’s so cuuuute! Look at his little stubby legs! Andhis snoot! Boop the snoot!”Blake giggled in spite ofherself. “You do know that if we’re right about this one, then he’sdescended from the ancient line of protector lizards. Like the onefrom Japan. He could grow to be over three hundred feet tall, andover five hundred feet in length. Not to mention he could use adevastating blast of atomic energy from his mouth to levelislands.”Yang beamed up at Blake. “So, a really bad caseof morning breath, huh?”The Faunus brushed a lock of ravenhair behind her human ear shyly, blushing. “Yeah, I guess so. He’llneed massive breath mints if he is one of the protectorlizards.”With a quiet, cautious look around, Yang checkedto see if anyone was looking, or if any of the cameras were facingthem before quickly leaning up and kissing Blake on her lips for abrief moment. She felt Blake lean into the kiss for that moment, thenit ended, both blushing slightly. “How have you been, though? Anytroubles?”She shook her head. “No, but Neon has beenacting…. a bit erratic lately. She’s scared to tell Flynt.” Heramber eyes skirting the floor. “I don’t blame her. Could youimagine how frightening it must be? To not know if you’ll be lost inyour own body? To not even know if your days are numbered, or ifyou’re just a bit sick?”“Blake…” Yang started.“Itmust be nice, to be human. To have parents. To know where and whatyou come from. To be more than a serial number and a liability.” Abitter chuckle escaped her in a huff. “Best I know is that I camefrom petri dish number seventy four out of ten thousand, and I wasone of ten to survive in the artificial womb from my batch.”Yangset her jaw. “I saw your file, Blake. It has everything on you init. I bet you that we could find answers in there for you.”Blakeshook her head. “I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know whatmonsters made me. I don’t want to know what I was spliced from. Idon’t want to know the name of the scientist who got a raise when Ididn’t die. I know who I am now.” She looked at the chirpingcreature in her arms. “I mean, yeah, I envy you, but to know whatkind of monster I risk becoming? I don’t want to know. Not really. Ienvy family, a real sense of belonging to something.”With asigh, Yang nodded. “Alright. But try to get Neon to talk to Flynt.A cold’s been going around, and it was really nasty.”Blakenodded, looking at the others in the room. “If…. one day, Ibecome infected-”“Blake. Don’t you ask this of me.”Yang warned.Their eyes met, a hollow look in her golden eyes.“I have to ask. We both know it’s your job. We both know that itmight happen one day. And if it does, make it quick. Please. Kill mebefore I become a monster. Let me die with dignity, as aFaunus.”Yang didn’t want to agree to it. Yes, it was herjob. Hell, that was the point of being paired together; to have theFaunus trust the human enough to tell them when something was goingwrong so they could be monitored closer, and kill them if needed. Butthis was the woman she loved, how could she be the one to pull thetrigger? “I can’t…. I love you, I can’t do it.”“Becauseyou love me, I’m asking it. I love you, and I trust you. I trust youto make it quick if it happens.”Yang leaned in and kissedBlake hard, not caring if anyone saw this time. After severalmoments, she pulled away, holding their foreheads together. “If…..if you become infected, I’ll do it. I’ll make it quick, and aspainless as possible. I’ll try to catch you before you’re completelygone, so you don’t die a monster.”The M.U.T.O in Blake’sarms took a firm hold of Yang’s tactical jacket, idly teething on it.The Faunus smiled at Yang sadly, looking into her eyes in relief.“Thank you. I love you.”Yang returned the grin. “I loveyou too.” She then looked down at the infant gnawing on heruniform. “And you’re getting my clothes all glow-drooly. But you’reso adorable! Yes you are! Yes you are!”

[coachingreviewsite]

Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/leadership-ideas-anyone-can-follow/

Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow

Many true leaders have become great because they were willing to learn from others. However, most people aren't willing to learn and that is why they fail at becoming a good leader. They think they know it all. Anyone can benefit from leadership skills like the excellent tips that are presented in this post.

Allow ample opportunity for your employees to offer feedback and new ideas. Although group meetings are the ideal setting for exchange of information, some employees may not feel confident offering opinions in such a public forum. Work with employees individually as well. This will help you gain trust and get some honest feedback.

    Walk the talk. Leaders don't say one thing and do another. That is confusing to employees, and demotivating in many ways. Instead live by what you say. Follow through and lead by example. Then you'll have more than employees, you'll have champions who believe in your business and your leadership too.

  Good leaders should be honest people. Do what you can to tell the truth. Remain authentic. When you tell the truth, do so kindly. Be open about any mistakes that have occurred. Mistakes will happen, so you need to accept them. It is those mistakes that you can use to find a new solution. They can provide you with nearly limitless opportunities.

  How Innovation Is Completely Different in Established Organizations Than in Startups

www.leadershipnow.com

"WE LIVE IN the age of the entrepreneur. New startups appear out of nowhere and challenge not only established companies, but entire industries. Where unicorns were once mythical creatures, the word unicorn now refers to the startups that have a value of at least $1 billion, and there are more than 370 of them worldwide. In 2018 alone, 53 unicorns were added to the list. Established organizations of a certain size and age, sometimes called “legacy organizations,” are stressed by the entrepreneurial successes. Their greatest fear is no longer their closest competitor, but the startups which, although they live in metaphorical garages and have hardly taken off, have an innovation power that established organizations can only dream of possessing. Still, no matter what great strides the innovative startups make or how much airtime they’re given by the media, innovation in startups is completely different than innovation in established organizations. The bad news for established organizations is that innovation for them is much more difficult than it is for startups. The most important job for startups is to focus on their (probably one) product and to subsequently scale up. Established organizations have to entertain many more considerations with their complicated product portfolios and business structures. The good news for established organizations, however, is that nobody is more likely to succeed than they are in their innovation efforts. Unlike startups, established organizations have tremendous resources. They have money, customers, data, employees, suppliers, partners, and infrastructure — which put them in a perfect position to transform new ideas into concrete, value-creating, successful offerings. The Three Tracks of Innovation Many established organizations commit the mistake of engaging in innovation as if it were a homogeneous process. But innovation in established organizations must actually be divided into three different tracks: optimizing, augmenting, and mutating innovations. All three are important. There’s no one singular type of innovation that’s better than another. And, unlike the startups, established organizations must execute all three types of innovation at the same time. 1. Optimizing innovation: Improving the past. Optimizing innovation makes up the majority of what established organizations already do today. And they must continue doing so. Optimizing innovation is, simply put, the metaphorical extra blade on the razor. When the razor manufacturer launches a new razor that has not just three, but four blades, to ensure an even better, closer and more comfortable shave, only to announce one or two years later that it’s now launching a razor that has not only four, but five blades, that is optimizing innovation. This is where the established player reigns. No startup with so much as a modicum of sense would even try to beat the established company in this type of innovation. Continuous optimization, both on the operational side and the customer side, is good and important — in the short term. It pays the rent. But it’s far from enough if the established company wants to continue to be a leader three to five years from now because there are limits on how many blades a razor needs. Each additional blade generates a bit less value than the previous one. Essentially, optimizing innovation improves upon the past. But startups are inventing the future. To match their entrepreneurial innovation power, established organizations must also prepare for the future and, ultimately, learn how to invent the future. 2. Augmenting innovation: Preparing for the future. To prepare for the future, the established players must engage in innovative augmentations. The digital transformation projects that more and more organizations are initiating can typically be characterized as augmenting innovation. It’s about upgrading the organization and its core offerings and processes from analog to digital. Or, if organizations were born digital, they may have had to become “mobile-first.” Perhaps they’ve even entered the next augmenting phase, which is to become “AI-first.” These augmentations are not small matters. They require great technological conversions. But technology may, in fact, be a minor part of the task. When it comes to augmenting innovation, the biggest challenge is most likely culture. Where startups have the advantage in building cultures from scratch that fit the times in which they originate perfectly, established organizations, who have had decades or even millennia of history, typically have created cultures in which there’s a preference to maintain the status quo. But if they hope to match the startup innovation power, they will need to transform their cultures to ensure their employees all thrive in constant change. 3. Mutating innovation: Inventing the future. Finally, established organizations also need to invent the future through mutating innovation. The business that maintains or exceeds its level of success 10, 20, and 30 years from now will have mutated. Whatever is currently at the core of the company today, making up the majority of the top and bottom lines, won’t remain the same in the long run. Mutating innovation requires a bold focus on experimentation into what isn’t yet understood. This is where the successful startups have excelled — taking what exists and challenging it to either create something new with more value or open up to new target groups. For established organizations, this innovation track is difficult because it essentially challenges their identities. Therefore, mutating innovation cannot thrive inside a company’s core, but needs to be taken outside to the core organization’s edges." https://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2019/07/how_innovation_is_completely_d.htmlhttp://www.leadershipnow.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=1/entry_id=1745

Always handle emerging issues with transparency. Good leaders don't want to hide problems with their business. Want to know why? There's a lot of ways the issues can surface because of all the communication built into our modern lives. The truth will come out either way. Why not control the message that comes out, instead of reacting? Great leaders make sure to do this.

Business is changing constantly so be open to new ideas. Even though something has always worked well in the past, that doesn't mean there isn't a better way to get the job done. Be open to innovative ideas. You can try new methods on a small scale before implementing them company wide.

  Don't rely on email to manage your team. Overreliance on email makes you seem like a distant emperor who hands down edicts from on high. You will not only build resentment among your team, but also miss out on the chance to build relationships that will improve productivity in the long run.

  Know your competition just as well as you know your own company. Business isn't just about what's happening between the walls in your space. You need to make decisions based off competitive movement. If you can't make decisions because you don't know the competition, then expect your employees to see it as a weakness in leadership.

  If you want to be a good business leader, try to treat everything as being your personal fault. This is ultimately about assuming personal responsibility for all that happens in your work. Never blame coworkers or the economy. Understand that at the end of the day, those who created their own fate are the ones eating dinner out at nice restaurants.

Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss?

www.teamworkandleadership.com

"Ask yourself, who is the best boss I ever worked for? If you were asked why they were the best, you would probably say things like: “She was so positive.” “He made me feel appreciated.” “She took the time to know me and coach me.” “He listened carefully.” “I felt like she would do anything […] The post Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss? appeared first on Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings with Mike Rogers." https://www.teamworkandleadership.com/2019/07/who-is-the-best-boss-you-ever-had-what-makes-a-leader.html

Make sure your subordinates and coworkers know that you are someone who is approachable. You probably don't want to leave holes in your schedule for conversation and socialization, but it's necessary. Your employees expect and deserve your guidance, respect and appreciation. With it, they can become your greatest business asset. Without it, they become a tremendous business liability.

  Take responsibility for what come out of your mouth. Leadership means that you have to be held accountable for what you say and do. Think about how you are representing your company whenever you interact with others. When you make mistakes, own up to them. Never expect others to do the fixing for you.

  Encourage passion for the work you do. When you show enthusiasm about something, it is contagious. Show enthusiasm for a new project and be passionate about the ideas your team has. Encouraging a passionate and enthusiastic attitude about work is a great way to inspire creativity in your team.

  Be open with your communication with your team. Good communication is essential for effective teamwork. Make sure your team feels that any questions are welcome by having a helpful attitude. Your team cannot work for you if they are not sure of what you want. Keep an open-door policy for this reason.

      Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale.

salesfuel.com

"Take away the telephone and you’d have a tough time doing business. Is this sales tool so vital that you take it for granted? (Read more…)

The post Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale. appeared first on SalesFuel."

http://salesfuel.com/watson-come-here-i-need-you-to-help-me-make-a-sale/

Be willing to accept feedback. Sometimes employees feel uncomfortable approaching a superior with problems or ideas unless prompted. Make the process more streamlined overall by seeking out opinions and suggestions from your employees. Try to keep an open door policy, and be willing to listen when your employees have something to say, even if you don't agree with the complaint.

  Use your knowledge of your employee's strengths when delegating work. Try to spread mundane tasks out over a large amount of employees. Give a variety of individuals the opportunity to attempt tasks that are challenging, exciting and give them some form of responsibility. One important aspect of being a good leader is building effective leadership abilities in others.

  Good leaders identify and understand their obstacles before encountering them in insurmountable ways. Learn to anticipate a crisis and take steps to avoid it. It is possible to have a positive attitude and still not be in denial about potential pitfalls. Delegate team members to minimize risks using each person's individual strengths.

  Being a leader can seem like an enviable role – all eyes are on you and you'll have a fair amount of power and prestige. But in the same vein, you'll have a tremendous amount of responsibility and will need to be accountable when things don't go well. Is this truly the role you want? The first step of being a leader is to think deeply about if this is the role you want to play.

  Now you can see why it is important to always learn new skills that help people to become an effective leader. Leadership does not come overnight. It takes years of learning and a determination to be the best a person can be. With these great ideas that were in the above article, you too can be on your way to having leadership skills that really do work.

[personalcoachingcenter]

Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/leadership-ideas-anyone-can-follow/

Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow

Many true leaders have become great because they were willing to learn from others. However, most people aren't willing to learn and that is why they fail at becoming a good leader. They think they know it all. Anyone can benefit from leadership skills like the excellent tips that are presented in this post.

Allow ample opportunity for your employees to offer feedback and new ideas. Although group meetings are the ideal setting for exchange of information, some employees may not feel confident offering opinions in such a public forum. Work with employees individually as well. This will help you gain trust and get some honest feedback.

    Walk the talk. Leaders don't say one thing and do another. That is confusing to employees, and demotivating in many ways. Instead live by what you say. Follow through and lead by example. Then you'll have more than employees, you'll have champions who believe in your business and your leadership too.

  Good leaders should be honest people. Do what you can to tell the truth. Remain authentic. When you tell the truth, do so kindly. Be open about any mistakes that have occurred. Mistakes will happen, so you need to accept them. It is those mistakes that you can use to find a new solution. They can provide you with nearly limitless opportunities.

  How Innovation Is Completely Different in Established Organizations Than in Startups

www.leadershipnow.com

"WE LIVE IN the age of the entrepreneur. New startups appear out of nowhere and challenge not only established companies, but entire industries. Where unicorns were once mythical creatures, the word unicorn now refers to the startups that have a value of at least $1 billion, and there are more than 370 of them worldwide. In 2018 alone, 53 unicorns were added to the list. Established organizations of a certain size and age, sometimes called “legacy organizations,” are stressed by the entrepreneurial successes. Their greatest fear is no longer their closest competitor, but the startups which, although they live in metaphorical garages and have hardly taken off, have an innovation power that established organizations can only dream of possessing. Still, no matter what great strides the innovative startups make or how much airtime they’re given by the media, innovation in startups is completely different than innovation in established organizations. The bad news for established organizations is that innovation for them is much more difficult than it is for startups. The most important job for startups is to focus on their (probably one) product and to subsequently scale up. Established organizations have to entertain many more considerations with their complicated product portfolios and business structures. The good news for established organizations, however, is that nobody is more likely to succeed than they are in their innovation efforts. Unlike startups, established organizations have tremendous resources. They have money, customers, data, employees, suppliers, partners, and infrastructure — which put them in a perfect position to transform new ideas into concrete, value-creating, successful offerings. The Three Tracks of Innovation Many established organizations commit the mistake of engaging in innovation as if it were a homogeneous process. But innovation in established organizations must actually be divided into three different tracks: optimizing, augmenting, and mutating innovations. All three are important. There’s no one singular type of innovation that’s better than another. And, unlike the startups, established organizations must execute all three types of innovation at the same time. 1. Optimizing innovation: Improving the past. Optimizing innovation makes up the majority of what established organizations already do today. And they must continue doing so. Optimizing innovation is, simply put, the metaphorical extra blade on the razor. When the razor manufacturer launches a new razor that has not just three, but four blades, to ensure an even better, closer and more comfortable shave, only to announce one or two years later that it’s now launching a razor that has not only four, but five blades, that is optimizing innovation. This is where the established player reigns. No startup with so much as a modicum of sense would even try to beat the established company in this type of innovation. Continuous optimization, both on the operational side and the customer side, is good and important — in the short term. It pays the rent. But it’s far from enough if the established company wants to continue to be a leader three to five years from now because there are limits on how many blades a razor needs. Each additional blade generates a bit less value than the previous one. Essentially, optimizing innovation improves upon the past. But startups are inventing the future. To match their entrepreneurial innovation power, established organizations must also prepare for the future and, ultimately, learn how to invent the future. 2. Augmenting innovation: Preparing for the future. To prepare for the future, the established players must engage in innovative augmentations. The digital transformation projects that more and more organizations are initiating can typically be characterized as augmenting innovation. It’s about upgrading the organization and its core offerings and processes from analog to digital. Or, if organizations were born digital, they may have had to become “mobile-first.” Perhaps they’ve even entered the next augmenting phase, which is to become “AI-first.” These augmentations are not small matters. They require great technological conversions. But technology may, in fact, be a minor part of the task. When it comes to augmenting innovation, the biggest challenge is most likely culture. Where startups have the advantage in building cultures from scratch that fit the times in which they originate perfectly, established organizations, who have had decades or even millennia of history, typically have created cultures in which there’s a preference to maintain the status quo. But if they hope to match the startup innovation power, they will need to transform their cultures to ensure their employees all thrive in constant change. 3. Mutating innovation: Inventing the future. Finally, established organizations also need to invent the future through mutating innovation. The business that maintains or exceeds its level of success 10, 20, and 30 years from now will have mutated. Whatever is currently at the core of the company today, making up the majority of the top and bottom lines, won’t remain the same in the long run. Mutating innovation requires a bold focus on experimentation into what isn’t yet understood. This is where the successful startups have excelled — taking what exists and challenging it to either create something new with more value or open up to new target groups. For established organizations, this innovation track is difficult because it essentially challenges their identities. Therefore, mutating innovation cannot thrive inside a company’s core, but needs to be taken outside to the core organization’s edges." https://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2019/07/how_innovation_is_completely_d.htmlhttp://www.leadershipnow.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=1/entry_id=1745

Always handle emerging issues with transparency. Good leaders don't want to hide problems with their business. Want to know why? There's a lot of ways the issues can surface because of all the communication built into our modern lives. The truth will come out either way. Why not control the message that comes out, instead of reacting? Great leaders make sure to do this.

Business is changing constantly so be open to new ideas. Even though something has always worked well in the past, that doesn't mean there isn't a better way to get the job done. Be open to innovative ideas. You can try new methods on a small scale before implementing them company wide.

  Don't rely on email to manage your team. Overreliance on email makes you seem like a distant emperor who hands down edicts from on high. You will not only build resentment among your team, but also miss out on the chance to build relationships that will improve productivity in the long run.

  Know your competition just as well as you know your own company. Business isn't just about what's happening between the walls in your space. You need to make decisions based off competitive movement. If you can't make decisions because you don't know the competition, then expect your employees to see it as a weakness in leadership.

  If you want to be a good business leader, try to treat everything as being your personal fault. This is ultimately about assuming personal responsibility for all that happens in your work. Never blame coworkers or the economy. Understand that at the end of the day, those who created their own fate are the ones eating dinner out at nice restaurants.

Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss?

www.teamworkandleadership.com

"Ask yourself, who is the best boss I ever worked for? If you were asked why they were the best, you would probably say things like: “She was so positive.” “He made me feel appreciated.” “She took the time to know me and coach me.” “He listened carefully.” “I felt like she would do anything […] The post Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss? appeared first on Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings with Mike Rogers." https://www.teamworkandleadership.com/2019/07/who-is-the-best-boss-you-ever-had-what-makes-a-leader.html

Make sure your subordinates and coworkers know that you are someone who is approachable. You probably don't want to leave holes in your schedule for conversation and socialization, but it's necessary. Your employees expect and deserve your guidance, respect and appreciation. With it, they can become your greatest business asset. Without it, they become a tremendous business liability.

  Take responsibility for what come out of your mouth. Leadership means that you have to be held accountable for what you say and do. Think about how you are representing your company whenever you interact with others. When you make mistakes, own up to them. Never expect others to do the fixing for you.

  Encourage passion for the work you do. When you show enthusiasm about something, it is contagious. Show enthusiasm for a new project and be passionate about the ideas your team has. Encouraging a passionate and enthusiastic attitude about work is a great way to inspire creativity in your team.

  Be open with your communication with your team. Good communication is essential for effective teamwork. Make sure your team feels that any questions are welcome by having a helpful attitude. Your team cannot work for you if they are not sure of what you want. Keep an open-door policy for this reason.

      Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale.

salesfuel.com

"Take away the telephone and you’d have a tough time doing business. Is this sales tool so vital that you take it for granted? (Read more…)

The post Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale. appeared first on SalesFuel."

http://salesfuel.com/watson-come-here-i-need-you-to-help-me-make-a-sale/

Be willing to accept feedback. Sometimes employees feel uncomfortable approaching a superior with problems or ideas unless prompted. Make the process more streamlined overall by seeking out opinions and suggestions from your employees. Try to keep an open door policy, and be willing to listen when your employees have something to say, even if you don't agree with the complaint.

  Use your knowledge of your employee's strengths when delegating work. Try to spread mundane tasks out over a large amount of employees. Give a variety of individuals the opportunity to attempt tasks that are challenging, exciting and give them some form of responsibility. One important aspect of being a good leader is building effective leadership abilities in others.

  Good leaders identify and understand their obstacles before encountering them in insurmountable ways. Learn to anticipate a crisis and take steps to avoid it. It is possible to have a positive attitude and still not be in denial about potential pitfalls. Delegate team members to minimize risks using each person's individual strengths.

  Being a leader can seem like an enviable role – all eyes are on you and you'll have a fair amount of power and prestige. But in the same vein, you'll have a tremendous amount of responsibility and will need to be accountable when things don't go well. Is this truly the role you want? The first step of being a leader is to think deeply about if this is the role you want to play.

  Now you can see why it is important to always learn new skills that help people to become an effective leader. Leadership does not come overnight. It takes years of learning and a determination to be the best a person can be. With these great ideas that were in the above article, you too can be on your way to having leadership skills that really do work.

[sellringsonconsignment]

Designer of the Month: Samuel Phillips

With a background in blacksmithing, jewellery maker Samuel now uses a lot of traditional silversmithing techniques in his work, along with casting and forging, to make a range of simple yet stunning designs. Discover where he gets the inspiration for his pieces from and more in the following interview.

Let us know a bit about yourself, detailing your background, study and training in the jewellery making industry.

My name is Samuel Phillips, a silversmith, jeweller, designer craftsman. Growing up in a coastal village, I was always around my grandfather’s boat building yard and encouraged to build and create, to craft objects from scrap and build things to keep myself entertained. At the age of 16, this was translated into a new medium of hot steel when I began a metalsmithing course at Plumpton College. This also introduced me to my first contact with jewellery making as a part of the course using silver, brass and copper to craft small earrings.

Finishing this course and moving onto university, I quickly found silversmithing and jewellery to be my true passion and managed to achieve a high grade BA (Hons) in Contemporary Design Crafts, specialising in jewellery/silversmithing at Hereford College of Arts in Herefordshire. I decided to head back to my home town to establish myself and start my journey in creating, and have been working for myself and a craftsman and silversmith for just over a year.

Constantly adapting to the requests of customers, I am a jack of all trades, creating one off pieces for private clients, supplying various galleries in the south east and recycling old pieces into new and interesting works for my clients. The joy of creating a wide range of interesting projects is what drives me, always looking for the next technical challenge and striving to achieve the vision of the customer whilst retaining my own aesthetic style.

Tell us about your work – are there any particular materials or techniques that you favour?

I use a lot of traditional silversmithing techniques as a basis for my work, whilst mixing my varied skill sets in to create some more unique shortcuts and visual effects within my work. My experience as a blacksmith gives me more of a specialism in hot work, including casting and forging, which gives me a great advantage in recycling and creating custom silver stock.

My most commonly used techniques at the moment are a few varieties on the classic reticulation of silver. Using purely a torch, the force of the gas and gravity, I create a variety of reticulated earrings with a range of styles by manipulating the molten surface of the material. I’ve also developed a form of reticulation that works with brass from my days at university, creating intricate ridges and textures within the material. Using high heat at a constant temperature and a pick, I can carve gauges and ridges into the surface of the molten brass. It’s a technique that although hard to grasp, is instantly satisfying to the eye.

My most commonly used material is sterling or recycled silver. Its versatility offers me so many possibilities to create with. For texture and tone, I often use an oxidising process combined with minimal cleaning to create visual contrast between blackened silver and a high polished surface. I have also started to work with more and more stones, setting them and creating my own cuts so this is a part of silversmithing I’m focusing on a lot at the moment!

How would you best describe your design style?

My design style is mostly minimalist with some elements of organic and industrial styling.

I tend to think less is more within my work, and by using contrast with finishes you can turn something really simple into a stunning everyday wear piece. My little reticulated studs are an example of this, using oxidised black silver against a polished area creates a really interesting visual. I also use elements of traditional jewellery construction, mainly for private ring commissions. A high polish with delicate stone setting and prongs is a classic look for any bride to be.

My main premise when designing is making something simple that is stunning. With something that has a bold look and a clean finish, every part of the piece matters. The little edges of a stud being polished makes all the difference to me.

As a jewellery maker, where do you like to get your inspiration from for your pieces?

Most of my inspiration comes from my surrounding environment. I live near the south east coast so my materials to draw from are beautiful and immense. I often use line drawing over images to pick out forms and shapes, as well as recreating unique textures from objects I find outside.

A lot of my work begins with an organic form or texture that I then transfer into a contemporary medium or edit to make it tangible. A few of my studs are based on the light gravel and sandy textures from the beaches of rye, others based on small leaves I have found around when walking. All these small objects and environments we walk through every day hold gems of beauty, I just enjoy transferring into something that will be worn and cherished.

I get the most inspiration from clients, each proposal is interesting and different and interpreting the customer’s needs into my own style always creates something unique and interesting. It’s the challenge of it all that is most inspiring!

Do you have a piece that you have made which you favour or are particularly proud of?

The piece I am most proud of is likely my fifth brooch from my university final project. I learnt so much through creating the series of brooches overall, and the smallest one of them was the accumulation of a lot of research and experimentation. This work has continued to inform me and develop my practice into what it is today. It’s delicate and precise and forced me to consider every little bit of the process in depth.

It also informed me of how to problem solve: reticulated brass is no easy task, it’s fickle and likes disintegrate before your eyes. Learning an advanced form of molten carving combined with heat control was so important for me coming out of university. It has since been the bread and butter of my practice, helping me make a variety of products that fuel my craft.

It taught me a lot about myself too, these brooches were drawn from environments with significant emotional meaning and stories – translating these emotions into a physical object was a powerful and striking moment of clarity for me. A piece of jewellery with history and with a significant personal bond is the best kind: a literal interpretation of “wearing your heart on your sleeve”.

What is the one item in your jewellery making workshop that you could not live without?

I couldn’t live without my small hand torch from Cooksongold! I bought it when I first started out making little pendants and rings in my university room and have never had any regrets! Hot enough for most soldering jobs and some tiny castings, it’s a versatile product that has a lovely focused flame perfect for the small details. I use it for making all my earrings and delicate solder joins on more intricate rings. It’s a perfect tool for batch production and for keeping the heat focused in a tight spot.

I’d also say I wouldn’t be much good without my Dremel tool. It’s so multi-purpose and the perfect introduction before committing to a proper flexishaft drill. It does everything from classic drilling to delicate shelf cutting when setting stone and polishing. From start to finish, it’s the go-to tool for rings and everything else!

What upcoming trends do you see being popular soon?

In terms of materials, I have noticed a lot more rose gold and opal going around. I think with the current financial market some people are willing to spend real money on a genuine piece of rose gold and opal, than continually replacing cheaper pieces. I think this is also due to a rise in more social acceptance with facial piercings, rose gold septum clickers and the like are in high demand.

Moissanite stones are also one of my most requested stones now. With its beautiful clarity that mimics a diamond for a fraction of the cost, many people are just as happy with its tone and quality. It also gives younger business a chance to get into more of the wedding/engagement ring market without placing all their money on a single stone.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt from your time in the jewellery making industry?

One of the most important lessons was to know when to stop. I had an awful habit of over tinkering with pieces or not leaving them alone. Knowing when to stop, taking a moment and reflect on the issue is key to being successful. Not everything goes perfectly, and when it fails it takes a little willpower to stop yourself for fiddling and tinkering with something best left alone.  To reflect and find new ways of dealing with the issue is always the best solution, and a practice that has helped me countless times.

Walk away, have a tea and just contemplate the issue, come back and try something different!

Do you have any particular advice that you would give to up and coming jewellery designers, or someone interested in getting into jewellery making?

I’d say don’t be afraid to ask for what you think you deserve, one of my main problems when starting was not having the confidence to ask for the proper money for the job. Always ask for what you deserve, most customers understand and the ones that don’t can be negotiated with. Part of your job as a jeweller is to explain why it costs what it costs, explain the care and quality of the work and the hard working hours you put into your pieces so they know exactly the level of quality they are paying for. Undercutting yourself is a sure fire way to knock your confidence, whereas completing a great job for a reasonable price fills you with so much pride and prompts you to keep going!

So in all, be confident, be brave with your craft and you’ll do well!

…and finally, time for a bit of fun in our quick fire round! Tell us your favourite…

…biscuit – chocolate orange digestive

…food – apple

…sport – snowboarding

…city – Hereford

…film – Good Will Hunting

For more details on Samuel’s work, you can visit his Etsy shop or feel free to check out his Facebook page or his Instagram page.

Source link

from Diamonds & Jewelry Consignment Shop https://sellringsonconsignment.com/top-posts/designer-of-the-month-samuel-phillips/

[webanalytics]

Digital Analytics + Marketing Career Advice: Your Now, Next, Long Plan

The rapid pace of innovation and the constantly exploding collection of possibilities is a major contributor to the fun we all have in digital jobs. There is never a boring moment, there is never time when you can’t do something faster or smarter.

The tiny downside of this is that our parents likely never had to invest as much in constant education, experimentation and self-driven investment in core skills. They never had to worry that they have to be in a persistent forward motion… sometimes just to stay current.

This reality powers my impostor syndrome, and (yet?) it is the reason that I love working in every dimension of digital. We are at an inflection point in humanity’s evolution where in small and big ways, we can actually change the world.

With that context, this post is all about career management in the digital space. Like this blog, it will be particularly relevant for those who are in digital analytics and digital marketing. I would offer that the higher-order-bits in each of the three sections will provide valuable food-for-thought for anyone in a digital role.

The post has three clusters of advice. The first two are from editions of my newsletter, The Marketing – Analytics Intersect (it goes out weekly, and is now my primary publishing channel, sign up!). The third section was sparked by a question a friend who works at a digital agency asked: Will I lose my job to automation soon? (The answer was, yes.)

The Now section provides advice on how investing in growing your Analytical Thinking will contribute to greater success in the role you are in. The Next section provides advice on what you should be doing to invest in yourself to get ready for the depth and breadth change Artificial Intelligence is going to bestow upon us (regardless of your business role). The Long section shares a thought experiment I want you to undertake to figure out your career three years from now.

1. The Now Career Plan: Analytics Experience vs. Analytical Thinking

2. The Next Career Plan: Prepping For An AI-First World

3. The Long Career Plan: Automation & Your Value To A Company

One more change reflective of the times we live in… Your employer used to be responsible for your career, this is for the most part no longer true. Your employer would send you to trainings to help push your career forward, this is for the most part no longer true. Your employer/manager would help you figure out the skills you can develop, this is for the most part no longer true. It is now all on you. Hence… Take control.

Ready?

The Now Career Plan: Analytics Experience vs. Analytical Thinking

Check the requirements listed in any digital analytics job and you'll notice a long laundry list looking for analytics experience.

Years of having used tool x. Years and years of practice with R or "Big Data." Years of proficiency in analyzing m campaigns for n channels resulting in production of z reports.

When you go to the interview, the hiring company will proceed to ask questions that test your competency in the listed job requirements.

This is normal.

Reflecting on my experience, it is not sufficient.

Test for analytics experience AND explore the level of analytical thinking the job candidate possesses.

Analytical thinking is 6,451 times more crucial in the long-term success of the candidate and the value they'll add to your company.

Analytical Thinking: Skills, Interviewing, Value.

Analytical thinking is a collection of skills.

It is creative problem solving. It is working systematically and logically when dealing with complex tasks. It is exploring alternatives from multiple angles to find a solution. It is a brilliant evaluation of pros and cons, and achieving the balance that is right for that specific moment. It is always knowing that the answer to what's two plus two is always in what context? It is being able to recognize patterns. It is knowing that every worthy life decision is a multivariate regression equation (hence the quest to identify all the variables in that equation and their weights). It is the possession of critical thinking abilities. And, most of all it is being able to seek and see the higher order bits.

Beautiful, right?

If I have the immense privilege of interviewing you, expect us to spend a lot of time on the elements mentioned above.

One sample strategy: Expect that I'll ask open-ended questions (If a company has 90% Reach on TV, why the heck do they need digital?). Then, regardless of what you say I'll politely but forcefully push back, to explore the depth and breadth of analytical thinking you bring to the table.

If you hire strong analytical thinkers, of any background, you are hiring people who will be adaptable, who'll grow and flex with your organization and needs. They'll have the mental agility to think smart and move fast. They'll ask child-like simple questions that'll lay bare your complex strategic challenges. Hire them. And, if they don't know tool x… You can teach them which buttons to press.

Caring and Feeding Your Analytical Thinking.

If you are an analytical thinker, there are many ways in which you can keep feeding and stretching the synapses in your brain. There is always more you can learn.

In a business context, request an hour to talk to people three levels above you in the organization. Ask them what they worry about, ask them what they are solving for, ask them how they measure success, ask them what are two things on the horizon that they are excited about. So on and so forth. You'll see things very differently, and you'll think very differently when you go back to work.

I'd mentioned being able to look at every situation from multiple angles. (Think of the famous bullet time scene in the Matrix.) Hence, a personal strategy of mine is to look well outside my area of expertise to help me improve my analytical thinking capabilities.

I'm love reading decisions of the US Supreme Court. SCOTUSblog FTW!

The Supreme Court deals with situations that are insanely complex – even when they appear to be stunningly simple on the surface. There are so many lessons to be learned.

My favorites are the ones I massively disagree with. Citizens United is one such example. I could not possibly disagree with it more. Yet reading through the deep details helped me see the multiple facets being explored, the reasoning used by the other side. I learned a lot.

I go in open-minded, and at times have my mind changed. A good example of this Justice Scalia's opinion in Gonzales v. Raich and the use of the Commerce Clause. And, he was not a man with whom I have overlapping views on anything. I appreciate him stretching my mind in this case.

Optimal Starting SCOTUS Starting Points.

If you would like to pursue my personal strategy, here are a collection of cases to use as starting points.

Some cases are very dear to me, I truly love them, there is a lot to learn from them as you explore the back and forth of the debate, the majority opinion and the dissenting one (or ones).

Loving v. Virginia is close to my heart, it is the reason I can legally marry my wife. It was just 50 years go!

Obergefell v. Hodges brought immense to our family as we celebrated the right of all Americans to marry. Justice Kennedy's opinion is a thing of beauty. And, it is also useful to read Justices Scalia and Thomas' strong and powerful dissents.

Texas v. Johnson said that prohibition on desecration of the American flag was a violation of the right to free speech. Of the many wonderful things about America, the First Amendment is at the top and distinctly unique. The court looked beyond the jingoistic distractions the flag always attracts, and protected what's critical.

As I'd mentioned above, there is much to learn from cases that are heartbreaking

Dred Scott v. Sandford held that African Americans, free or slaves, could not be considered American citizens and undid the Missouri Compromise. It contained the infamous quote "[black men] had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Buck v. Bell is perhaps the one that is a deep, deep source of pain for me, it a decision that still stands. The court upheld forced sterilizations for those with "intellectual disabilities" and contained the despicable phrase "three generations of imbeciles are enough."

Korematsu v. United States, legalized the shameful internment of American citizens with any Japanese ancestry. It is still on the books, and places extraordinary power in the President of the US to do what they want to people who might not look like "Americans." People like me.

Each case, regardless of if I agree with the opinion or disagree, helps push my thinking. It makes me a better analyst, a better employee, a better start-up founder.

I've added a differentiated collection of links above to take you to sources, I hope they'll help feed your analytical thinking.

For the Busy Human On The Go, An Alternative.

Given everything above, I absolutely LOVE the More Perfect podcast.

Jad Abumrad and his team are magnificent storytellers. For each episode, they take one case and explore it from multiple directions. They are entertaining, engaging and deeply informative.

Season one covered seven scintillating cases. I found the episodes that shared how SCOTUS was formed and got its power amazing.

Season two kicked of with… Korematsu! I thought I knew all angles of this case. Yet, towards the end you'll hear two loud silences in a conversation with Judge Richard Posner. Make sure you hear what he says. I have profound respect for Judge Posner, he is brilliant. And, in those two moments, he both made me deeply uncomfortable and appreciate complexity.

More Perfect on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play.

Bringing It All Back To Analytics.

The latest episode (as of Oct 11th) is "Who's Gerry and Why Is He So Bad At Drawing Maps."

The problem is simple. In Wisconsin Republicans in power massively gerrymandered voting districts (something the Democrats also do when in power). Unlike the past where little sophistication was applied, this time sophisticated algorithms and computers were brought into play. Resulting in more effective gerrymandering.

End result: Democrats won 53% of the votes but only 39% of the seats.

You might think: OMG! CRAZY BEANS! What happened to one person one vote!

Well, the case was heard by the Supreme Court last week. And, everything's quite complicated (analytical thinking!). Listen to the episode for that.

What's even more material for us is that Justice Kennedy wants to know how can he figure out that a district has been "too" gerrymandered. There is no real standard, nothing the Justices can use.

Math to the rescue!

Nicholas Stephanopoulos and Eric McGhee created an Efficiency Gap formula to assess how bad the gerrymandering was. (More here, PDF.)

I won't spoil it for you, let Professor Moon Duchin explain it to in the podcast. It is a thing of beauty.

You'll learn how to create smarter formulas in your job, how to solve complicated and ambiguous challenges with simple assumptions, and how to not to grow too close to your formulas – rather evolve them over time to be smarter.

In 23 mins, it will make you a better Analyst.

If you follow the overall guidance in this section, you’ll continue to invest and grow the one skill you’ll need in every digital career: Sophisticated analytical thinking.

The Next Career Plan: Prepping For An AI-First World

Even with all the hype related to all things Artificial Intelligence, I feel people are not taking the topic seriously enough. That the big, broad implications for the very near future are not causing us to sit up, take notice, and change our strategies (personal and professional).

Or, maybe I'm just too deep into this stuff. :)

I had two big ah-ha moments that have changed my view if humans can be competitive in any field compared to what technology will spring forth. I call the two elementsl Collective Continuous Learning and Complete Day One Knowledge, they are harbingers of exciting possibilities for what we can do with AI (and it to us).

For more detail on that, and if humans are doomed (yes, no, yes totally) please read: The Artificial Intelligence Opportunity: A Camel to Cars Moment

The topic of AI is vast, and I’m not even including all the layers and flavors. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. My heartfelt recommendation is that every professional should be curious about AI and try to stay abreast with as many new dimensions as they can. After the first few months, you’ll find your own sweetspot that’ll catch your fancy.

Here are the collection of books, videos, people and learning opportunities from my sweetspot…

Books.

I want to recommend three books. None focusses on digital marketing or analytics. Each tackles humans and the possibilities for humans. Hence they’ve had a profound impact on my thinking about humanity’s future (and via that route, my career plans).

1. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.

The span of Mr. Harari's thinking is truly grand, and he's a great storyteller. I am less pessimistic than Mr. Harari about the 300 year outcome (as you'll read in my post above on AI), but he's influenced my thinking deeply.

2. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.

AI will birth numerous incredible solutions for humanity, but the most magical bits will come from Artificial General Intelligence. Some people think of it as Superintelligence. Mr. Bostrom does a fantastic job of exploring the possibilities. Let me know if you get scared or excited by the end. :)

3. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

I love the way Mr. Tegmark writes, and there is something magical about his ability to distill all living things, you, me, watermelons, to up quarks, down quarks and nand gates! I was so inspired by his writing that I wrote to him my personal prediction for humanity looking 300 years out.

Videos.

Current development of Intelligence is in silos, I'm glad when someone pulls all the experts from around the world in an attempt to guide humanity's efforts.

The Future of Life Institute hosted a conference in Asilomar in Jan 2017 with just such a purpose. The entire list of videos is well worth watching, prioritize the individual ones: Beneficial AI 2017

If you can only watch one…

1. Science or Fiction?

The content is great and it is pretty amazing to see these crazy brilliant group on one stage.

There is one other video I want you to watch, from the 2015 edition.

2. Robotics, AI, and the Macro-Economy

There is mostly a negative vibe about the combination of robotics and AI. The brilliant Jeffrey Sachs systematically presents context you'll be glad you've heard.

There is a ton of video content on YouTube. A go to source for me is whoever is curating the Artificial Intelligence AI channel.

People.

In any space that is having the kind of exponential growth like AI, your best bet is to find people who trust and listen to what they are saying/doing.

We are blessed with a ton of experts, practitioners and futurists. I encourage you to curate your own list.

Here are the ones I follow as closely as I can: Sebastian Thrun, Jürgen Schmidhuber, Demis Hassabis, and Andrew Ng.

I watch videos of all their talks on YouTube or tune in to livestreams of their presentations. I read articles they write. I have alerts for them. Luckily they are so darn busy, they pace their public speaking/writing. :)

You can follow their work using strategies you currently use for others you stay in touch with.

Learning.

If you are slightly technically oriented and would like to start your journey of acquiring technical knowledge in the space, Udacity is a great place to go.

All three of these courses are free:

1. Intro to Machine Learning

2. Machine Learning

3. Deep Learning

If you are deeply technically oriented, you already know where to go and don’t need my pointers!

I’m sure you’ll notice I’ve not given you specific advice for your next career move. One reason: We are in a moment where each of us has to know all the changes coming, all the possibilities arising, and then figure out that answer for ourselves.

The above books, videos, people and lessons will help you discover the right answer for yourself.

The Long Career Plan: Automation & Your Value To A Company

People are scared of automation.

It is logical. The AI revolution will bring a ton of automation that will eliminate current white-collar jobs in large numbers.

Yet, by the end of this thought experiment, you might see that looking out over the nest 25-30 years, we can deal with automation (/elimination of our current jobs).

This thought experiment is for both Marketers and Analysts.

Get in front of a whiteboard. Draw a decent size square box on it.

Today, almost all the work you do is inside that box.

For Digital Marketers, it is finding keywords or websites, setting targeting parameters, building ads, setting bids, adding rules, building landing pages etc. etc.

For Digital Analysts, it is creating data collection mechanisms, writing queries, creating reports, doing segmentation, creating rules, identifying business focus areas based on data etc. etc.

Here's the thought: If tomorrow everything you currently do, inside that box, is completely automated… What's your value?

Pause.

Think about it carefully in terms of personal implications.

For the bravest among you, think of what's the value of your Agency/Company.

If you are anything like me, you are super-scared. Some of you are likely super-excited as well.

Don't be scared. Take action.

It is not as crazy as you think to envision that you could be completely automated out. In small pieces this has already happened.

Media example: Campaigns to create, target and deliver results for driving app downloads is now almost entirely automated.

Analytics example: There are already buttons in your tools that automate finding of anomalies in your data that your leaders most need to pay attention to. Eliminating the need for the known knowns and automatically providing the known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

An example that combines the both for even more effective automation: With smart creative, smart bidding, and smart targeting there is no need for any human to touch AdWords or soon a whole lot of your Display campaigns. The results of Data Driven Attribution modeling, which use data from *all* digital campaigns, can now be directly plugged into AdWords which means without any reporting/analysis the platform will automatically optimize for the highest profit for your business – with no human involvement. This is not the future, it is Nov 2017.

Back to the whiteboard.

On top of the box with the stuff you do, write the word Automated.

Ponder now what's your value.

You'll see there are two areas where you can add value. The area before the box, the area after the box.

If you are a Marketer…

You can shift to taking more ownership of the inputs that go into your current job (which remember is now automated). Shift to a responsibility that requires a deeper understanding of your Prospects and Customers at a human level. Now, because of that beautiful knowledge, take ownership of the entire process of identifying the optimal creative assets required for any great Marketing campaign. Then, step up and move to the other side of the box… Own the use and deployment of large scale machine learning services to understand every human, which results in creating the simplest most meaningful experience across all digital touch-points. And then… I'm taking you so far away from your current box… expand the outcomes you own from just the transactional to building deeper years-long beyond-pimpy relationships with your customers.

And suddenly…

You hate the freaking box you are in as a Marketer today. You want to expand your responsibility to own these deeply meaningful things that Machine Learning and our Deep Neural Networks won't touch for a while. You want to feel the true joy that comes from doing meaningful things like figuring out how to build relationships or unleash the full and beautiful power of amazing creative (in ads, in apps, on sites, in products), and so many more exciting things that you were born to do.

Now, you are not scared about automated. You can't wait for your current job to be automated away.

:)

I have the above scenario and the wonderful possibilities for Analysts as well. It is also very exciting, as you’ll discover when you do the whiteboarding exercise for yourself.

Now. I totally get that your entire job is not getting automated tomorrow. But, I suspect you'll be surprised though how fast that is coming. For Nurses. For Truck drivers. For Baristas. For… Everyone. Collect a handful of the smartest people you know, draw a box on a whiteboard, have a discussion.

This thought experiment is just one way to think through the implications of what’s ahead of us. In my blog post on the artificial intelligence opportunity, you’ll see another way I framed how to think this through…

The above framing is a bit more in the higher-order-bit spirit.

I recommend the thought experiment. When you’re done: Step one, have a plan. Step two, execute. Step three, joy. Step four, follow the advice in section one (Now) and section two (Next) of this blog post and start investing in the personal growth you’ll need to move to these new more joy-inducing meaningful jobs.

Your career is in your hands, and I deeply believe it is going to be bright. Seize the moment!

As always, it is your turn now.

Considering the Now moment, is there something unique you do to invest in growing your analytical thinking capabilities? How are you preparing for the Next moment, who are you reading, who are you listening to? Considering the next 25 years in our space, how far do you think automation will go? How are you approaching your personal evolution with the Long moment horizon in mind? How about your company’s?

Please share your unique perspective, challenges, and solutions via comments below.

Thanks.

Digital Analytics + Marketing Career Advice: Your Now, Next, Long Plan is a post from: Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik

from Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik http://ift.tt/2kIM1Cn #Digital #Analytics #Website

[nathandgibsca]

Digital Analytics + Marketing Career Advice: Your Now, Next, Long Plan

The rapid pace of innovation and the constantly exploding collection of possibilities is a major contributor to the fun we all have in digital jobs. There is never a boring moment, there is never time when you can’t do something faster or smarter.

The tiny downside of this is that our parents likely never had to invest as much in constant education, experimentation and self-driven investment in core skills. They never had to worry that they have to be in a persistent forward motion… sometimes just to stay current.

This reality powers my impostor syndrome, and (yet?) it is the reason that I love working in every dimension of digital. We are at an inflection point in humanity’s evolution where in small and big ways, we can actually change the world.

With that context, this post is all about career management in the digital space. Like this blog, it will be particularly relevant for those who are in digital analytics and digital marketing. I would offer that the higher-order-bits in each of the three sections will provide valuable food-for-thought for anyone in a digital role.

The post has three clusters of advice. The first two are from editions of my newsletter, The Marketing – Analytics Intersect (it goes out weekly, and is now my primary publishing channel, sign up!). The third section was sparked by a question a friend who works at a digital agency asked: Will I lose my job to automation soon? (The answer was, yes.)

The Now section provides advice on how investing in growing your Analytical Thinking will contribute to greater success in the role you are in. The Next section provides advice on what you should be doing to invest in yourself to get ready for the depth and breadth change Artificial Intelligence is going to bestow upon us (regardless of your business role). The Long section shares a thought experiment I want you to undertake to figure out your career three years from now.

1. The Now Career Plan: Analytics Experience vs. Analytical Thinking

2. The Next Career Plan: Prepping For An AI-First World

3. The Long Career Plan: Automation & Your Value To A Company

One more change reflective of the times we live in… Your employer used to be responsible for your career, this is for the most part no longer true. Your employer would send you to trainings to help push your career forward, this is for the most part no longer true. Your employer/manager would help you figure out the skills you can develop, this is for the most part no longer true. It is now all on you. Hence… Take control.

Ready?

The Now Career Plan: Analytics Experience vs. Analytical Thinking

Check the requirements listed in any digital analytics job and you'll notice a long laundry list looking for analytics experience.

Years of having used tool x. Years and years of practice with R or "Big Data." Years of proficiency in analyzing m campaigns for n channels resulting in production of z reports.

When you go to the interview, the hiring company will proceed to ask questions that test your competency in the listed job requirements.

This is normal.

Reflecting on my experience, it is not sufficient.

Test for analytics experience AND explore the level of analytical thinking the job candidate possesses.

Analytical thinking is 6,451 times more crucial in the long-term success of the candidate and the value they'll add to your company.

Analytical Thinking: Skills, Interviewing, Value.

Analytical thinking is a collection of skills.

It is creative problem solving. It is working systematically and logically when dealing with complex tasks. It is exploring alternatives from multiple angles to find a solution. It is a brilliant evaluation of pros and cons, and achieving the balance that is right for that specific moment. It is always knowing that the answer to what's two plus two is always in what context? It is being able to recognize patterns. It is knowing that every worthy life decision is a multivariate regression equation (hence the quest to identify all the variables in that equation and their weights). It is the possession of critical thinking abilities. And, most of all it is being able to seek and see the higher order bits.

Beautiful, right?

If I have the immense privilege of interviewing you, expect us to spend a lot of time on the elements mentioned above.

One sample strategy: Expect that I'll ask open-ended questions (If a company has 90% Reach on TV, why the heck do they need digital?). Then, regardless of what you say I'll politely but forcefully push back, to explore the depth and breadth of analytical thinking you bring to the table.

If you hire strong analytical thinkers, of any background, you are hiring people who will be adaptable, who'll grow and flex with your organization and needs. They'll have the mental agility to think smart and move fast. They'll ask child-like simple questions that'll lay bare your complex strategic challenges. Hire them. And, if they don't know tool x… You can teach them which buttons to press.

Caring and Feeding Your Analytical Thinking.

If you are an analytical thinker, there are many ways in which you can keep feeding and stretching the synapses in your brain. There is always more you can learn.

In a business context, request an hour to talk to people three levels above you in the organization. Ask them what they worry about, ask them what they are solving for, ask them how they measure success, ask them what are two things on the horizon that they are excited about. So on and so forth. You'll see things very differently, and you'll think very differently when you go back to work.

I'd mentioned being able to look at every situation from multiple angles. (Think of the famous bullet time scene in the Matrix.) Hence, a personal strategy of mine is to look well outside my area of expertise to help me improve my analytical thinking capabilities.

I'm love reading decisions of the US Supreme Court. SCOTUSblog FTW!

The Supreme Court deals with situations that are insanely complex – even when they appear to be stunningly simple on the surface. There are so many lessons to be learned.

My favorites are the ones I massively disagree with. Citizens United is one such example. I could not possibly disagree with it more. Yet reading through the deep details helped me see the multiple facets being explored, the reasoning used by the other side. I learned a lot.

I go in open-minded, and at times have my mind changed. A good example of this Justice Scalia's opinion in Gonzales v. Raich and the use of the Commerce Clause. And, he was not a man with whom I have overlapping views on anything. I appreciate him stretching my mind in this case.

Optimal Starting SCOTUS Starting Points.

If you would like to pursue my personal strategy, here are a collection of cases to use as starting points.

Some cases are very dear to me, I truly love them, there is a lot to learn from them as you explore the back and forth of the debate, the majority opinion and the dissenting one (or ones).

Loving v. Virginia is close to my heart, it is the reason I can legally marry my wife. It was just 50 years go!

Obergefell v. Hodges brought immense to our family as we celebrated the right of all Americans to marry. Justice Kennedy's opinion is a thing of beauty. And, it is also useful to read Justices Scalia and Thomas' strong and powerful dissents.

Texas v. Johnson said that prohibition on desecration of the American flag was a violation of the right to free speech. Of the many wonderful things about America, the First Amendment is at the top and distinctly unique. The court looked beyond the jingoistic distractions the flag always attracts, and protected what's critical.

As I'd mentioned above, there is much to learn from cases that are heartbreaking

Dred Scott v. Sandford held that African Americans, free or slaves, could not be considered American citizens and undid the Missouri Compromise. It contained the infamous quote "[black men] had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Buck v. Bell is perhaps the one that is a deep, deep source of pain for me, it a decision that still stands. The court upheld forced sterilizations for those with "intellectual disabilities" and contained the despicable phrase "three generations of imbeciles are enough."

Korematsu v. United States, legalized the shameful internment of American citizens with any Japanese ancestry. It is still on the books, and places extraordinary power in the President of the US to do what they want to people who might not look like "Americans." People like me.

Each case, regardless of if I agree with the opinion or disagree, helps push my thinking. It makes me a better analyst, a better employee, a better start-up founder.

I've added a differentiated collection of links above to take you to sources, I hope they'll help feed your analytical thinking.

For the Busy Human On The Go, An Alternative.

Given everything above, I absolutely LOVE the More Perfect podcast.

Jad Abumrad and his team are magnificent storytellers. For each episode, they take one case and explore it from multiple directions. They are entertaining, engaging and deeply informative.

Season one covered seven scintillating cases. I found the episodes that shared how SCOTUS was formed and got its power amazing.

Season two kicked of with… Korematsu! I thought I knew all angles of this case. Yet, towards the end you'll hear two loud silences in a conversation with Judge Richard Posner. Make sure you hear what he says. I have profound respect for Judge Posner, he is brilliant. And, in those two moments, he both made me deeply uncomfortable and appreciate complexity.

More Perfect on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play.

Bringing It All Back To Analytics.

The latest episode (as of Oct 11th) is "Who's Gerry and Why Is He So Bad At Drawing Maps."

The problem is simple. In Wisconsin Republicans in power massively gerrymandered voting districts (something the Democrats also do when in power). Unlike the past where little sophistication was applied, this time sophisticated algorithms and computers were brought into play. Resulting in more effective gerrymandering.

End result: Democrats won 53% of the votes but only 39% of the seats.

You might think: OMG! CRAZY BEANS! What happened to one person one vote!

Well, the case was heard by the Supreme Court last week. And, everything's quite complicated (analytical thinking!). Listen to the episode for that.

What's even more material for us is that Justice Kennedy wants to know how can he figure out that a district has been "too" gerrymandered. There is no real standard, nothing the Justices can use.

Math to the rescue!

Nicholas Stephanopoulos and Eric McGhee created an Efficiency Gap formula to assess how bad the gerrymandering was. (More here, PDF.)

I won't spoil it for you, let Professor Moon Duchin explain it to in the podcast. It is a thing of beauty.

You'll learn how to create smarter formulas in your job, how to solve complicated and ambiguous challenges with simple assumptions, and how to not to grow too close to your formulas – rather evolve them over time to be smarter.

In 23 mins, it will make you a better Analyst.

If you follow the overall guidance in this section, you’ll continue to invest and grow the one skill you’ll need in every digital career: Sophisticated analytical thinking.

The Next Career Plan: Prepping For An AI-First World

Even with all the hype related to all things Artificial Intelligence, I feel people are not taking the topic seriously enough. That the big, broad implications for the very near future are not causing us to sit up, take notice, and change our strategies (personal and professional).

Or, maybe I'm just too deep into this stuff. :)

I had two big ah-ha moments that have changed my view if humans can be competitive in any field compared to what technology will spring forth. I call the two elementsl Collective Continuous Learning and Complete Day One Knowledge, they are harbingers of exciting possibilities for what we can do with AI (and it to us).

For more detail on that, and if humans are doomed (yes, no, yes totally) please read: The Artificial Intelligence Opportunity: A Camel to Cars Moment

The topic of AI is vast, and I’m not even including all the layers and flavors. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. My heartfelt recommendation is that every professional should be curious about AI and try to stay abreast with as many new dimensions as they can. After the first few months, you’ll find your own sweetspot that’ll catch your fancy.

Here are the collection of books, videos, people and learning opportunities from my sweetspot…

Books.

I want to recommend three books. None focusses on digital marketing or analytics. Each tackles humans and the possibilities for humans. Hence they’ve had a profound impact on my thinking about humanity’s future (and via that route, my career plans).

1. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.

The span of Mr. Harari's thinking is truly grand, and he's a great storyteller. I am less pessimistic than Mr. Harari about the 300 year outcome (as you'll read in my post above on AI), but he's influenced my thinking deeply.

2. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.

AI will birth numerous incredible solutions for humanity, but the most magical bits will come from Artificial General Intelligence. Some people think of it as Superintelligence. Mr. Bostrom does a fantastic job of exploring the possibilities. Let me know if you get scared or excited by the end. :)

3. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

I love the way Mr. Tegmark writes, and there is something magical about his ability to distill all living things, you, me, watermelons, to up quarks, down quarks and nand gates! I was so inspired by his writing that I wrote to him my personal prediction for humanity looking 300 years out.

Videos.

Current development of Intelligence is in silos, I'm glad when someone pulls all the experts from around the world in an attempt to guide humanity's efforts.

The Future of Life Institute hosted a conference in Asilomar in Jan 2017 with just such a purpose. The entire list of videos is well worth watching, prioritize the individual ones: Beneficial AI 2017

If you can only watch one…

1. Science or Fiction?

The content is great and it is pretty amazing to see these crazy brilliant group on one stage.

There is one other video I want you to watch, from the 2015 edition.

2. Robotics, AI, and the Macro-Economy

There is mostly a negative vibe about the combination of robotics and AI. The brilliant Jeffrey Sachs systematically presents context you'll be glad you've heard.

There is a ton of video content on YouTube. A go to source for me is whoever is curating the Artificial Intelligence AI channel.

People.

In any space that is having the kind of exponential growth like AI, your best bet is to find people who trust and listen to what they are saying/doing.

We are blessed with a ton of experts, practitioners and futurists. I encourage you to curate your own list.

Here are the ones I follow as closely as I can: Sebastian Thrun, Jürgen Schmidhuber, Demis Hassabis, and Andrew Ng.

I watch videos of all their talks on YouTube or tune in to livestreams of their presentations. I read articles they write. I have alerts for them. Luckily they are so darn busy, they pace their public speaking/writing. :)

You can follow their work using strategies you currently use for others you stay in touch with.

Learning.

If you are slightly technically oriented and would like to start your journey of acquiring technical knowledge in the space, Udacity is a great place to go.

All three of these courses are free:

1. Intro to Machine Learning

2. Machine Learning

3. Deep Learning

If you are deeply technically oriented, you already know where to go and don’t need my pointers!

I’m sure you’ll notice I’ve not given you specific advice for your next career move. One reason: We are in a moment where each of us has to know all the changes coming, all the possibilities arising, and then figure out that answer for ourselves.

The above books, videos, people and lessons will help you discover the right answer for yourself.

The Long Career Plan: Automation & Your Value To A Company

People are scared of automation.

It is logical. The AI revolution will bring a ton of automation that will eliminate current white-collar jobs in large numbers.

Yet, by the end of this thought experiment, you might see that looking out over the nest 25-30 years, we can deal with automation (/elimination of our current jobs).

This thought experiment is for both Marketers and Analysts.

Get in front of a whiteboard. Draw a decent size square box on it.

Today, almost all the work you do is inside that box.

For Digital Marketers, it is finding keywords or websites, setting targeting parameters, building ads, setting bids, adding rules, building landing pages etc. etc.

For Digital Analysts, it is creating data collection mechanisms, writing queries, creating reports, doing segmentation, creating rules, identifying business focus areas based on data etc. etc.

Here's the thought: If tomorrow everything you currently do, inside that box, is completely automated… What's your value?

Pause.

Think about it carefully in terms of personal implications.

For the bravest among you, think of what's the value of your Agency/Company.

If you are anything like me, you are super-scared. Some of you are likely super-excited as well.

Don't be scared. Take action.

It is not as crazy as you think to envision that you could be completely automated out. In small pieces this has already happened.

Media example: Campaigns to create, target and deliver results for driving app downloads is now almost entirely automated.

Analytics example: There are already buttons in your tools that automate finding of anomalies in your data that your leaders most need to pay attention to. Eliminating the need for the known knowns and automatically providing the known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

An example that combines the both for even more effective automation: With smart creative, smart bidding, and smart targeting there is no need for any human to touch AdWords or soon a whole lot of your Display campaigns. The results of Data Driven Attribution modeling, which use data from *all* digital campaigns, can now be directly plugged into AdWords which means without any reporting/analysis the platform will automatically optimize for the highest profit for your business – with no human involvement. This is not the future, it is Nov 2017.

Back to the whiteboard.

On top of the box with the stuff you do, write the word Automated.

Ponder now what's your value.

You'll see there are two areas where you can add value. The area before the box, the area after the box.

If you are a Marketer…

You can shift to taking more ownership of the inputs that go into your current job (which remember is now automated). Shift to a responsibility that requires a deeper understanding of your Prospects and Customers at a human level. Now, because of that beautiful knowledge, take ownership of the entire process of identifying the optimal creative assets required for any great Marketing campaign. Then, step up and move to the other side of the box… Own the use and deployment of large scale machine learning services to understand every human, which results in creating the simplest most meaningful experience across all digital touch-points. And then… I'm taking you so far away from your current box… expand the outcomes you own from just the transactional to building deeper years-long beyond-pimpy relationships with your customers.

And suddenly…

You hate the freaking box you are in as a Marketer today. You want to expand your responsibility to own these deeply meaningful things that Machine Learning and our Deep Neural Networks won't touch for a while. You want to feel the true joy that comes from doing meaningful things like figuring out how to build relationships or unleash the full and beautiful power of amazing creative (in ads, in apps, on sites, in products), and so many more exciting things that you were born to do.

Now, you are not scared about automated. You can't wait for your current job to be automated away.

:)

I have the above scenario and the wonderful possibilities for Analysts as well. It is also very exciting, as you’ll discover when you do the whiteboarding exercise for yourself.

Now. I totally get that your entire job is not getting automated tomorrow. But, I suspect you'll be surprised though how fast that is coming. For Nurses. For Truck drivers. For Baristas. For… Everyone. Collect a handful of the smartest people you know, draw a box on a whiteboard, have a discussion.

This thought experiment is just one way to think through the implications of what’s ahead of us. In my blog post on the artificial intelligence opportunity, you’ll see another way I framed how to think this through…

The above framing is a bit more in the higher-order-bit spirit.

I recommend the thought experiment. When you’re done: Step one, have a plan. Step two, execute. Step three, joy. Step four, follow the advice in section one (Now) and section two (Next) of this blog post and start investing in the personal growth you’ll need to move to these new more joy-inducing meaningful jobs.

Your career is in your hands, and I deeply believe it is going to be bright. Seize the moment!

As always, it is your turn now.

Considering the Now moment, is there something unique you do to invest in growing your analytical thinking capabilities? How are you preparing for the Next moment, who are you reading, who are you listening to? Considering the next 25 years in our space, how far do you think automation will go? How are you approaching your personal evolution with the Long moment horizon in mind? How about your company’s?

Please share your unique perspective, challenges, and solutions via comments below.

Thanks.

Digital Analytics + Marketing Career Advice: Your Now, Next, Long Plan is a post from: Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik

from SEO Tips https://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-analytics-marketing-career-advice-ai-now-next-long-plan/

[privilege-archives]

MATHIEU SMYTHE ➝ THIRD SIBLING

I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN

❖ FULL NAME: Mathieu Emil Smythe. ❖ PRONOUNS: He/Him. ❖ AGE: 21. (April 13th). ❖ BIRTH ORDER: Third. Triplet to Second & Fourth Smythe. ❖ GRADE: Junior. ❖ MAJOR: Counseling Psychology. ❖ SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Demisexual. ❖ ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic. ❖ FACECLAIM: Grant Gustin.

I'LL FOLLOW YOU UNTIL YOU LOVE ME

[[TW for talk of eating disorder, anxiety, hospitalization]]

With fame and fortune being all he’s ever known, it’s no wonder that Mathieu has never really had to worry for much. His earliest memories are composed of flashing lights and people clamoring for his parents’ attention whenever they were out; although Mathieu wasn’t quite about to tell why things were the way that way, versus the lives he saw his friends and people on TV and movies lead, it wasn’t something he ever thought to question. Of course he knew that his mother and father’s professions meant that people looked on them differently than they did most others, and that – as one of their children – there was a certain amount of fame that came with that simple fact. But rather than wonder what it would be like to live a different life, a quieter life, Mathieu let things be. It was simply the way things were. Growing up, his natural disposition was one of quiet kindness and an insatiable wonder for the world and people around him. Though by no means extroverted, Mathieu was known to have a soft-spoken curiosity, and could often times be found reading to himself or striking up conversations with anybody willing to tell him a little bit about themselves, if only because he wanted to understand any and everything he possibly could beyond a surface level.

As he grew older, he kept his sense of curiosity, allowing it to blossom into a charm and charisma that was second nature to him. He still retained an air of privacy, preferring quiet and solitude over the loud raucous that seemed to permeate every aspect of his family, but he easily settled into an identity he’d set for himself: one with a fondness for learning and a desire to help. He was content to fade into the background of his family’s fame, though this desire was often times hard to achieve when he couldn’t so much as leave his home without wondering if it could somehow be used either for or against his parents.

It was around this age that he began to really grasp just what it meant to be a child of the Hollywood elite. The media’s eyes were constantly on his family and, by extension, left Mathieu feeling like every little movement he made was being picked apart and critiqued. Just that thought alone was enough to make him unable to sit still, feeling a constant itch under his skin telling him that he wasn’t supposed to be anything less than the absolute best, not unless he wanted his imperfections to be on display for the entire entertainment world to see. It wasn’t long before Mathieu started to crack, desperately trying to hang on to any sort of control he could find in his life. If anyone were to understand the world view Mathieu’s head began to manifest, they would say he had lost himself, and maybe in a way he had. His childhood wonder and curiosity still persisted, except now, instead of driving him to learn about animals, the deep ocean, cultures and laws and everything foreign to himself, it became a restless search for whatever he needed to do to become the best version of himself, lest he give he paparazzi reason to drag his familial name through the mud. Perfect grades, perfect body, perfect self- that was his goal, no matter what the consequences. It took a drastic toll on his body and mental state, both of which have never been able to reach the level they were at before his gradual decline. Mathieu was well aware that his new view towards eating and his own body was unhealthy. Or rather, it would be unhealthy if it were anybody but himself. He needed it though, and every time he looked in the mirror or saw a photo of himself, it only reinforced that thought more and more.

His life came to a complete stop when he was fifteen. One second, he was arriving home after his usual morning jog, and the next thing he knew, he was waking up in the hospital with doctors surrounding him, using words like ‘malnourished’, ‘dehydrated’, and ‘anemic’. It wasn’t long before a few answers from his parents and an impromptu meeting with a psychologist that it was finally revealed the damage Mathieu had done to his body over the last two years. His parents immediately placed him in therapy, though not before word spread that one of the Smythe children had been hospitalized due to an “undisclosed medical need” and noting that the latest photos of him showed a rather obvious weight loss. There was little speculation that related back to the real reason, a fact that Mathieu found himself quietly thankful for. He did as he was told, hoping to maintain the family image and keep them happy, though with every pound he gained and every meal he finished, he hated himself more and more. By the time he was 17, he was up to a healthy weight for his size, though his attitude towards food and his workout routines were still cause for concern. Nevertheless, Mathieu did everything in his power to keep himself above the water. He graduated top of his class, and after a bit of deliberation about exactly what direction he wanted to go with his life, decided to attend Pacific State with a concentration in Psychology, hoping it would help him put the past behind him and ignore the constant thoughts that still plagued his mind. It also offered him a refuge away from the spotlight, and it was a safe haven that Mathieu’s younger self could have only imagined.

For the most part, being in college gave Mathieu a chance to rewrite his story. That was easier said than done, unfortunately. After receiving the final grades for his second semester sophomore year, Mathieu started to slip again. It isn’t to the point it was back when he was a teenager, when just walking up a flight of stairs, but his habits have definitely become less than ideal. Mathieu believes he has a wonderful control over it and that it won’t end up like before, and has refused to mention that he might be doing poorly again. Letting people find out about it before was what resulted, in his mind, in him starting to lose his control. This time, it’s not something he’s going to let go of so easily. He can control it, he know he can. Really, he has no choice in the matter.

BABY, THERE'S NO OTHER SUPERSTAR

Mathieu has spent the majority of his life finding the perfect combination of comfortable and stylish. Blues and greys are the main colors of his wardrobe, always keeping himself clean cut and dressed to impress, should he be leaving the comfort of his home. He likes to carry himself tall yet relaxed, hoping to give the impression that he is more sure of the world around him than he actually is. He has glasses, though he can often times be found opting for contacts instead. He has a tattoo on his left wrist, the symbol of the NEDA as a reminder to himself, though he puts quite a deal of effort into keeping it hidden either by long sleeves, a watch, coverup, or a combination of the three.

YOU KNOW THAT I'LL BE YOUR PAPARAZZI

Keaton is a crazy successful director, while Sariah is an equally successful actress.

[personalcoachingcenter]

Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/leadership-ideas-anyone-can-follow/

Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow

Many true leaders have become great because they were willing to learn from others. However, most people aren't willing to learn and that is why they fail at becoming a good leader. They think they know it all. Anyone can benefit from leadership skills like the excellent tips that are presented in this post.

Allow ample opportunity for your employees to offer feedback and new ideas. Although group meetings are the ideal setting for exchange of information, some employees may not feel confident offering opinions in such a public forum. Work with employees individually as well. This will help you gain trust and get some honest feedback.

    Walk the talk. Leaders don't say one thing and do another. That is confusing to employees, and demotivating in many ways. Instead live by what you say. Follow through and lead by example. Then you'll have more than employees, you'll have champions who believe in your business and your leadership too.

  Good leaders should be honest people. Do what you can to tell the truth. Remain authentic. When you tell the truth, do so kindly. Be open about any mistakes that have occurred. Mistakes will happen, so you need to accept them. It is those mistakes that you can use to find a new solution. They can provide you with nearly limitless opportunities.

  How Innovation Is Completely Different in Established Organizations Than in Startups

www.leadershipnow.com

"WE LIVE IN the age of the entrepreneur. New startups appear out of nowhere and challenge not only established companies, but entire industries. Where unicorns were once mythical creatures, the word unicorn now refers to the startups that have a value of at least $1 billion, and there are more than 370 of them worldwide. In 2018 alone, 53 unicorns were added to the list. Established organizations of a certain size and age, sometimes called “legacy organizations,” are stressed by the entrepreneurial successes. Their greatest fear is no longer their closest competitor, but the startups which, although they live in metaphorical garages and have hardly taken off, have an innovation power that established organizations can only dream of possessing. Still, no matter what great strides the innovative startups make or how much airtime they’re given by the media, innovation in startups is completely different than innovation in established organizations. The bad news for established organizations is that innovation for them is much more difficult than it is for startups. The most important job for startups is to focus on their (probably one) product and to subsequently scale up. Established organizations have to entertain many more considerations with their complicated product portfolios and business structures. The good news for established organizations, however, is that nobody is more likely to succeed than they are in their innovation efforts. Unlike startups, established organizations have tremendous resources. They have money, customers, data, employees, suppliers, partners, and infrastructure — which put them in a perfect position to transform new ideas into concrete, value-creating, successful offerings. The Three Tracks of Innovation Many established organizations commit the mistake of engaging in innovation as if it were a homogeneous process. But innovation in established organizations must actually be divided into three different tracks: optimizing, augmenting, and mutating innovations. All three are important. There’s no one singular type of innovation that’s better than another. And, unlike the startups, established organizations must execute all three types of innovation at the same time. 1. Optimizing innovation: Improving the past. Optimizing innovation makes up the majority of what established organizations already do today. And they must continue doing so. Optimizing innovation is, simply put, the metaphorical extra blade on the razor. When the razor manufacturer launches a new razor that has not just three, but four blades, to ensure an even better, closer and more comfortable shave, only to announce one or two years later that it’s now launching a razor that has not only four, but five blades, that is optimizing innovation. This is where the established player reigns. No startup with so much as a modicum of sense would even try to beat the established company in this type of innovation. Continuous optimization, both on the operational side and the customer side, is good and important — in the short term. It pays the rent. But it’s far from enough if the established company wants to continue to be a leader three to five years from now because there are limits on how many blades a razor needs. Each additional blade generates a bit less value than the previous one. Essentially, optimizing innovation improves upon the past. But startups are inventing the future. To match their entrepreneurial innovation power, established organizations must also prepare for the future and, ultimately, learn how to invent the future. 2. Augmenting innovation: Preparing for the future. To prepare for the future, the established players must engage in innovative augmentations. The digital transformation projects that more and more organizations are initiating can typically be characterized as augmenting innovation. It’s about upgrading the organization and its core offerings and processes from analog to digital. Or, if organizations were born digital, they may have had to become “mobile-first.” Perhaps they’ve even entered the next augmenting phase, which is to become “AI-first.” These augmentations are not small matters. They require great technological conversions. But technology may, in fact, be a minor part of the task. When it comes to augmenting innovation, the biggest challenge is most likely culture. Where startups have the advantage in building cultures from scratch that fit the times in which they originate perfectly, established organizations, who have had decades or even millennia of history, typically have created cultures in which there’s a preference to maintain the status quo. But if they hope to match the startup innovation power, they will need to transform their cultures to ensure their employees all thrive in constant change. 3. Mutating innovation: Inventing the future. Finally, established organizations also need to invent the future through mutating innovation. The business that maintains or exceeds its level of success 10, 20, and 30 years from now will have mutated. Whatever is currently at the core of the company today, making up the majority of the top and bottom lines, won’t remain the same in the long run. Mutating innovation requires a bold focus on experimentation into what isn’t yet understood. This is where the successful startups have excelled — taking what exists and challenging it to either create something new with more value or open up to new target groups. For established organizations, this innovation track is difficult because it essentially challenges their identities. Therefore, mutating innovation cannot thrive inside a company’s core, but needs to be taken outside to the core organization’s edges." https://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2019/07/how_innovation_is_completely_d.htmlhttp://www.leadershipnow.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=1/entry_id=1745

Always handle emerging issues with transparency. Good leaders don't want to hide problems with their business. Want to know why? There's a lot of ways the issues can surface because of all the communication built into our modern lives. The truth will come out either way. Why not control the message that comes out, instead of reacting? Great leaders make sure to do this.

Business is changing constantly so be open to new ideas. Even though something has always worked well in the past, that doesn't mean there isn't a better way to get the job done. Be open to innovative ideas. You can try new methods on a small scale before implementing them company wide.

  Don't rely on email to manage your team. Overreliance on email makes you seem like a distant emperor who hands down edicts from on high. You will not only build resentment among your team, but also miss out on the chance to build relationships that will improve productivity in the long run.

  Know your competition just as well as you know your own company. Business isn't just about what's happening between the walls in your space. You need to make decisions based off competitive movement. If you can't make decisions because you don't know the competition, then expect your employees to see it as a weakness in leadership.

  If you want to be a good business leader, try to treat everything as being your personal fault. This is ultimately about assuming personal responsibility for all that happens in your work. Never blame coworkers or the economy. Understand that at the end of the day, those who created their own fate are the ones eating dinner out at nice restaurants.

Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss?

www.teamworkandleadership.com

"Ask yourself, who is the best boss I ever worked for? If you were asked why they were the best, you would probably say things like: “She was so positive.” “He made me feel appreciated.” “She took the time to know me and coach me.” “He listened carefully.” “I felt like she would do anything […] The post Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss? appeared first on Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings with Mike Rogers." https://www.teamworkandleadership.com/2019/07/who-is-the-best-boss-you-ever-had-what-makes-a-leader.html

Make sure your subordinates and coworkers know that you are someone who is approachable. You probably don't want to leave holes in your schedule for conversation and socialization, but it's necessary. Your employees expect and deserve your guidance, respect and appreciation. With it, they can become your greatest business asset. Without it, they become a tremendous business liability.

  Take responsibility for what come out of your mouth. Leadership means that you have to be held accountable for what you say and do. Think about how you are representing your company whenever you interact with others. When you make mistakes, own up to them. Never expect others to do the fixing for you.

  Encourage passion for the work you do. When you show enthusiasm about something, it is contagious. Show enthusiasm for a new project and be passionate about the ideas your team has. Encouraging a passionate and enthusiastic attitude about work is a great way to inspire creativity in your team.

  Be open with your communication with your team. Good communication is essential for effective teamwork. Make sure your team feels that any questions are welcome by having a helpful attitude. Your team cannot work for you if they are not sure of what you want. Keep an open-door policy for this reason.

      Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale.

salesfuel.com

"Take away the telephone and you’d have a tough time doing business. Is this sales tool so vital that you take it for granted? (Read more…)

The post Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale. appeared first on SalesFuel."

http://salesfuel.com/watson-come-here-i-need-you-to-help-me-make-a-sale/

Be willing to accept feedback. Sometimes employees feel uncomfortable approaching a superior with problems or ideas unless prompted. Make the process more streamlined overall by seeking out opinions and suggestions from your employees. Try to keep an open door policy, and be willing to listen when your employees have something to say, even if you don't agree with the complaint.

  Use your knowledge of your employee's strengths when delegating work. Try to spread mundane tasks out over a large amount of employees. Give a variety of individuals the opportunity to attempt tasks that are challenging, exciting and give them some form of responsibility. One important aspect of being a good leader is building effective leadership abilities in others.

  Good leaders identify and understand their obstacles before encountering them in insurmountable ways. Learn to anticipate a crisis and take steps to avoid it. It is possible to have a positive attitude and still not be in denial about potential pitfalls. Delegate team members to minimize risks using each person's individual strengths.

  Being a leader can seem like an enviable role – all eyes are on you and you'll have a fair amount of power and prestige. But in the same vein, you'll have a tremendous amount of responsibility and will need to be accountable when things don't go well. Is this truly the role you want? The first step of being a leader is to think deeply about if this is the role you want to play.

  Now you can see why it is important to always learn new skills that help people to become an effective leader. Leadership does not come overnight. It takes years of learning and a determination to be the best a person can be. With these great ideas that were in the above article, you too can be on your way to having leadership skills that really do work.